Cedric Diggory and the Goblet of Fire
by GungaDin
Summary: A telling of Cedric's year during the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. Completed with the epilogue, a what happens afterwards and into the future. Story completed.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sections of dialogue, the good stuff, have been directly transcribed from Jo Rowling's words... You'll know them because they'll seem familiar and they'll sound better than the other stuff... All of the characters shown here are unoriginal... because Promise hasn't shown up yet. It's just a matter of time, though. Trust me.

**Chapter 1  
Flight**

"Cedric?"

The echoing voice came from far away. Why would someone interrupt his flying? Flying away, he flew up and out of the canopy for an instant and then back down under the shelter of branches, between trunks. The wind whistled through his ears, whipping his usually tidy hair around his face, slapping it lightly against his ears, but returning the voice as well, which penetrated his calm again, this time louder.

"Cedric?"

Cedric perceived urgency and irritation in the voice, as though it was growing louder because Cedric refused to acknowledge it. He zipped back under the canopy again and towards a massive tree. He pushed himself low to his broomstick and propelled himself around the trunk, feeling himself compress like a spring into the broom's handle as his hair barely grazed the wood. He rocketed back into the forest as he finished the turn, fleeing from the voice.

"Cedric?"

The voice grew closer. Closer. He felt the voice continue to echo around the forest. He continued to fly, pushing his chest onto the broom, allowing the wind to fly around him, and forcing himself faster into the woods.

"Cedric!"

"Huh? What?" Cedric's eyes snapped open.

"Come on, Ced." His father's eyes twinkled in the very dim light of his room. "We need to start moving. Big day ahead of us. Don't want to be late," He smiled as he stood up from the edge of Cedric's bed and walked out of the dark room.

Cedric rubbed his eyes vigorously and stared out the window next to his bed, blinking hard in an attempt to keep his desperate-to-close-eyes appeased. Darkness blanketed the outside of his window, like a dark curtain preventing light's entrance into his room. Why did his father need to wake him so early? Why was today such a terribly important day?

He nestled and wriggled back into the warmth of the covers on his bed, rolled over, and slipped his hands under the warmth of his pillow, fully prepared to return to his forest flight. How he wished he could actually soar through the air. The Muggles outside wouldn't see him in the darkness, and his house did have several choice protective spells around it. The thought of Quidditch and flying around a large stadium to the cheers of the fans flooded his thoughts.

Quidditch. He missed Quidditch. It had only been two months, but the greatest sport in the world hadn't quite left his thoughts…

And as the thought of Quidditch drifted lazily into his mind, a new, more forcible once wedged into the room of his thoughts as the door of sleep began to close the idea from his mind. The colors of green and red zipped past his eyes as blurs, speeding towards golden hoops, fans cheering beneath him as he watched from the center of a pitch, which demystified itself as he took notice of the world around him.

He sighed in both exaltation and melancholy. Cedric so desperately wanted to go back to sleep at just before two in the morning. As luck would have it, however, the one and only thing in the entire world could have dragged him out of that bed was exactly what his father had awoken him for. He needed to get out of his bed so he could start his… day, if rising at such an hour could be called starting a day. It was closer to slogging through darkness, a thought that buzzed in Cedric's ear, an idea that wished to come to fruition in the form of Cedric physically leaving his bed. He thought about how best to get out of the bed. To relax and wait out the drive to sleep was impossible because of the careful timetable his father had put them on, which maximized the time his son would be allowed to sleep. _No,_ he thought. _No more waiting._

With a burst of effort, his first of the morning, Cedric ripped the covers off his body and moved slowly to his desk, fumbling in the weak light for the set of Muggle clothes he had set aside the night before. He pulled on the yellow and black sweater and pair of jeans he had for times when he had to go out amongst the Muggle population, put on his socks and shoes, and was about to shove his wand in his pocket when he paused and gazed at it.

His wand. What could he say about his wand? It never failed him. He remembered Mr. Ollivander, humbly retelling the story of how he had caught the unicorn tail contained in its core. Cedric held the wand flat in his left palm and pulled its end with his right, feeling the ash and smiling. He held it out and felt his left hand drop away. Slowly, carefully, he twirled it around. Its springy nature urged him to swish faster, but he resisted, wanting desperately to stay in control and to not shoot instinctual sparks around his room. He didn't recant any spells, but rather swished the wand slowly to avoid sparks from shooting out of its end. It started slowly at first, but the more he practiced, the better he became at this occasional morning exercise.

"Cedric?" his mother called from downstairs. "Cedric? Hurry up! You don't want to miss your Portkey!"

Cedric smiled and flipped his wand into the air so that it almost touched the ceiling, snatched it as it dropped back down, and gingerly placed it in his pants pocket. He scurried down the stairs, entered the kitchen, and sat promptly at the breakfast table next to his father, who was reading his copy of _The Evening Prophet_.

"Morning, mother," he said brightly.

"Morning, dear." His mother handed him a plate of toast, bacon, and eggs. "I don't know how much you'll be eating on the grounds, so I made sure you'd have a big breakfast. You'll need your energy for the rest of the day." She yawned widely. "You plan on getting any sleep at the grounds?"

"We'll see, mom," Cedric said, crunching into a piece of toast his mother had marmaladed for him. "But chances are I'll be too excited to actually catch up on sleep."

"He'll be fine, Eva," Cedric's father said, crumpling down the paper enough to look at his wife and son. "If he needs to, he will. He's not a child anymore. He'll be of age in just two months time."

Cedric looked down; feeling his cheeks flush with color, he found himself unable to meet his father's gaze or trust in him.

Cedric's mother smiled and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I know, but it doesn't make knowing it any easier. A mother should always worry about her child regardless of age."

Cedric stayed silent, focusing intently on the taste of the very exquisite marmalade his mother had so lovingly put on his toast.

"That goes for fathers, too," Cedric's father said, looking over to his wife. They made eye contact and smiled at each other, then looked at Cedric.

"Promise would have something great and witty to say here," Cedric said, bitter and jealous of his best friend's ability to conjure up the perfect retort to his parents acknowledgement of his growing up.

"How is she, anyways?" Cedric's mother asked. "Haven't you heard from her?"

"Not since the Hogwarts Express," Cedric shrugged. "I wish she would write. I've sent Dani to her with letters and parcels to see if she wanted to spend time together, but I've heard no response." He smiled weakly. "Knowing Promise, though, she has a very good reason I won't agree with."

Cedric's father nodded, conceding. "Who was it who said Promise knows best?"

"That would be her," Cedric said, lips firm as he nodded.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Cedric's mother said. "I'm surprised you haven't gone back to her house since Christmas."

"I'd need an invitation," Cedric shrugged.

Cedric's mother smiled proudly at him. "I'm glad that hasn't been lost on you." She yawned widely. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed. Have a good time at the game! I'll see you tomorrow!"

She hugged her son and then kissed her husband before dragging herself out of the kitchen, up the flight of stairs, and out of sight.

Cedric's father put down the morning paper and watched his wife slink up the stairs. "She seemed cheery," he chuckled. "We'll go as soon as you're ready." Cedric's father pulled his copy of _The Evening Prophet _up again and continued to read it.

"Anything about the game?" Cedric asked between mouthfuls of bacon.

"Just the teams' records to date," he sighed, disappointed. "Highlights of the teams' performances this season and some tidbits about the huge transportation issues for the game tonight. Doesn't say much more than that."

Cedric returned his focus to his breakfast, concentrating on scarfing the remaining contents quickly so his father wouldn't wait for him longer than he had to. He picked up his plate, took it to the sink, washed it thoroughly, dried it with a towel, and finally returned it to its cabinet to the left of the sink.

"Ready?" Cedric's father asked him. "We've got about eight miles to go and only about three hours. Let's go."

The trek itself was rather uneventful. True, Cedric never traveled very far on foot, and he had certainly never traveled all the way to Stoatshead Hill. Still, the World Cup. Nothing could possibly keep him from attending, even if it meant a walk across miles of countryside to reach a desolate hill in the middle of nowhere.

After several minutes in silence, he began to discuss his O.W.L results with his father. His father was pleased with his results. He managed to scrape O.W.L.s in all of his subjects. They discussed Cedric's decisions to skip on N.E.W.T. level Care of Magical Creatures for the upcoming year, for which his father teased him because of his standing in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They discussed his school life in general. They discussed Promise and wondered what she had done over the summer (although Cedric was becoming increasingly more convinced he wouldn't see her till their shopping trip in a few weeks). They discussed Quidditch and how Cedric had won against Harry Potter.

"For the last time, dad," Cedric sighed. "I'm telling you, Harry fell off of his broom."

"Still doesn't change the fact that you beat him, does it, Ced?" His father nudged him teasingly. "That's a good story to tell."

Cedric almost rolled his eyes.

Gray had begun to obscure the sky when they finally approached Stoatshead Hill. The climb at first was relatively level with little incline, but by the time they had reached the top, they wheezed freely, breath crystallizing in the cool, pre-dawn air.

"Ok, we're looking for a Portkey and the Weasley family," Cedric's father said. "Portkey first though. Won't do us any good to find the Weasleys and then completely miss our Portkey's window. It'll be something small and insignificant."

They separated and began to scour the top of the hill searching for the Portkey.

"Could you be more specific?" Cedric called out to his father after about ten minutes.

"No! Sorry!" Cedric's father shouted back.

They continued to search for the Portkey on the side of the hill farther away from as Cedric kept his eyes on the Ottery St. Catchpole side of the hill as he watched the seven members of the Weasley party pop out of the hill like corks.

After another two minutes, Cedric's father's voice bit into the air. "Ah ha! Got it, Ced!" He raised his voice higher. "Over here, Arthur! Over here son, we've got it!" He waved his arm with the boot in hand to the figures on the other side of the hill.

The tallest of the party strode over to where Cedric and his father stood. "Amos!" Mr. Weasley's face grew slowly visible as he approached Cedric. He extended a hand and shook it vigorously with Cedric's father, and then Cedric.

The other six members of the party approached.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," said Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

Cedric waved nervously at the other six of the party. He remembered that all of them resided in the Gryffindor house and wondered if any of them had forgiven him for accidentally defeating them in last season's Quidditch match. "Hi," he said, slightly embarrassed.

They each chorused a hello together, with the exception of the two twins, whom Cedric recognized as the beaters for the Gryffindor team. Nodding a polite greeting, Cedric realized they obviously didn't forgive him for their defeat. He shouldn't have won that match. It wasn't fair to them or to Harry.

He looked around the circle at each one in turn. He didn't recognize the red headed girl, and blanked on the names of the twins. He did, however, recognize Ron Weasley purely out of Ron's relationship to Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger, whom had gained the reputation as the smartest student at Hogwarts. Finally, his eyes landed on Harry Potter, but then again, who didn't know of Harry Potter?

"Long walk, Arthur?" Cedric's father asked.

"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two didn't we Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still… not complaining… Quidditch World Cup, Wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons- and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley. "These are Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, Hermione Granger, a friend of Ron's, and Harry, another friend."

Cedric watched his father's eyes open wide, as he had known they would. Cedric suppressed a smile. He'd actually waited for this moment since he had recognized Harry in the weak light. For his father to suddenly become star struck at the sight of a "celebrity" was too priceless for Cedric to pass up.

"Merlin's beard," his father gasped. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

Cedric almost let his smile split across his face. He really should have told his father that Harry would show up, but where would the fun have been in that?

"Er- yeah," Harry murmured.

"Ced's talked about you of course," Cedric's father continued to look at him in wonder, forcing Cedric to allow the slightest of smirks to perforate his face. "Told us all about playing against you last year… I said to him, I said- Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will… _You beat Harry Potter!_"

Cedric's smile and any remaining inkling of it dropped off of his face at the mention of Cedric capturing the snitch before Harry. Why couldn't his father take less pride in him for once? He watched as Harry merely continued to look at Cedric's father while the twins scowled at him. What was he supposed to do?

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," Cedric muttered. "I told you… it was an accident."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you?" roared his father genially, slapping Cedric on the back, embarrassing Cedric even further. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman… but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to know which one's a better flier."

"Must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley interrupted, forcing Cedric's mouth shut, silencing him from mentioning that Harry was probably the best flier he had ever seen. "Do you know if we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," Cedric's father informed him. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of," said Mr. Weasley. "Yes, it's a minute off… We'd better get ready…" He turned around to Harry and Hermione, who apparently had no idea how to use a Portkey. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do-"

Cedric touched the boot held out in front of him by his father, squished between the two fathers of the group.

"Three… two… one…" Mr. Weasley counted down.

Cedric felt the incredibly uncomfortable sensation of being jerked forward and watched as his feet left the ground and colors swirled and blurred his vision. He reflected on just how much he hated this mode of transportation, remembering to focus his energies on his feet an instant before they hit the ground. He stumbled slightly, panting along with his father and Mr. Weasley as the rest of their motley crew collapsed to the ground in front of him. He would have laughed were it not for the fact that he needed to catch his breath and he was still stinging from his father's reminder that Hufflepuff had beaten Gryffindor.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," came a voice from the man to his left.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or Cedric. But I totally own Promise. She is definitely mine! So hands off! All of you!

**Chapter 2  
The Playing Field**

Cedric looked around at the man who had announced their arrival before turning back to watch Harry, Ron, and Hermione stand up from their positions on the ground.

"Morning, Basil," Mr. Weasley strode over to the wizard in the kilt, who was carrying a scroll of parchment, and handed him the moldy boot. The man carelessly threw the boot over his shoulder and it clattered down a large pile of used portkeys behind him.

The man began to discuss something with Mr. Weasley, but Cedric paid no attention to them, which wasn't difficult because of the weakness and fatigue apparent in the man's voice. When Cedric's father became engaged in the conversation several seconds later, however, Cedric moved in to listen to the conversation, realizing it was the more responsible thing to do.

"-Quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory," the man consulted the parchment briefly again. "Second field… ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks Basil," Mr. Weasley murmured. He beckoned all of them forward across the misty marsh ahead of them.

They proceeded in silence for several minutes until Cedric began to make out the dim outline of several hundred tents sprawled along the large field in front of them, giving way to a very large, dense forest at the end of the field.

As a small stone cottage approached, Cedric and his father exchanged farewells with the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione.

"They're a nice group," Cedric's father sighed as they walked past the first field and towards the second, passing by the small patch of dense forest that cut the two fields in half. Cedric wished he had time to explore the forest in depth. Maybe he'd explore it that night, during all the celebrations going on after the victory of either the Bulgarians or the Irish. Or maybe if he could slip away before the match… It'd keep him occupied during the hours of boredom he had ahead of him waiting for the match.

They stopped after several more minutes through mist when they finally reached the cottage in front of the second field. This field, however, looked even bigger than the first, the edges themselves obscured in mist, unlike the last one, which still had a barely visible tree line in the distance.

Cedric's father approached the front door and knocked several times. They waited for several seconds before Cedric's father knocked several more times, this time a little louder. Still no answer. Cedric's father shrugged and pounded on the front door as hard as he could.

"'Ang on! 'Ang on! I'm coming!" Came a muffled voice from the inside of the cottage. Cedric heard several scuffling sounds, a quick burst of water, and then a fumbling of the lock before the door opened on a man with vibrant red beard. "Mornin' gents!" Mr. Payne said brightly through a thick Cockney accent, eyes shining even through his long, dripping wet hair. "What can I do you for?"

"Yes, good morning," Mr. Diggory said to Mr. Payne. "I believe we reserved a tent several weeks ago. Under Diggory?"

"Oh!" Mr. Payne exclaimed, throwing a hand to his head. "Terribly sorry," He reached to a hook on the wall of his home and pulled off a clipboard. "I'm just a li'tte behind in me reservations, you know? It's been crazy getting' all of these people sorted and placed into tents, especially after the first couple thousand. Everyone's full up. Loads of reservations. Rather peculiar really. Not much out in this neck of the woods apart from a couple of trees and a huge marsh," The man chuckled, elbowing Cedric's father hard in the arm. "Not complaining though. It pays the bills," He returned to his papers, lifting each of the twenty or so sheets in turn. "Let's see, Diggory… Diggory… Dandelion, Depperidge, Descolt, Détente, Dibrim, Diggory! There we are! Your tent is one of the closest to the woods. Just follow the cen'er aisle until you get to almost the end."

Cedric's father nodded and beckoned Cedric to follow behind him.

"Umm, Mr. Diggory?" Mr. Payne called out, forcing Cedric's father to turn around. "You forgot about the payment. I prefer it up front if you don't mind. Like I said, I gotta pay the bills," he grinned widely.

"Right," Cedric's father smiled as he dug into his pants pocket and withdrew a large roll of cash. "Here it is I think," He handed Mr. Payne the large roll.

The man stared. "Ummm, sir, I think this is a bit much."

Cedric's father blinked. "Right! I knew that. I was just wondering if you'd like to take your share and just give me back the change."

The man shrugged and leafed out most of the wad before returning it to Cedric's father. "Now you 'ave a nice time! If you need any wa'er there should be a wa'er tap in the next field over."

"Thank you!" Cedric's father muttered as he turned around and rejoined Cedric. "See, Ced? Muggles can be very nice and understanding people. All you need to do is flatter them. They always think they know everything."

Cedric nodded, suppressing a yawn.

They walked through the campsite as Cedric looked around at all of the different tents around the campground. He nearly laughed. The tents couldn't have been more obviously wizarding tents. None of them looked anything like the pictures they had in the recreation section of his Muggle Studies textbook. He was fairly certain they didn't need picket fences, or chimneys, or large sunflowers, or windmills, or lights or even an added small farmhouse, complete with pigs and cows near them.

Even Cedric's father noticed the problem. "I'm just going to say that we need to use as little magic as possible."

They reached the edge of the forest and stopped in front of the only remaining spot without a tent, on which sat a bag marked "Diggory".

"This looks like the place," Cedric's father looked around very quickly from side to side before withdrawing his wand, muttering an incantation and waving it, forcing all of the contents of the bag into forming their own tent. Cedric cringed slightly as his father flicked his wand and a large gold "D" appeared on the top of the tent.

His father sighed contently. "That should do it."

They entered the tent and looked around at the kitchen and two full size bedrooms inside the tent. Cedric examined the four poster bed and instantly began to wistfully dream of falling back to sleep, but too much needed to be done. He couldn't simply walk away at a time like this.

"I'll leave you to your own devices," Cedric's father yawned as he flopped onto one of the beds, placed his hands over his chest, and closed his eyes. "Just don't get into trouble and wake me up in a couple of hours."

Cedric smiled slightly. He walked around the tent slowly once, soaking in the details, before opening the flap and walking out into the misty marsh. He turned to the left and nearly bumped into a girl, who carried a cup of hot tea. She squeaked and jumped back, managing to keep her steaming tea in the cup.

"Cedric?" the girl asked, recognizing him.

"Promise!" Cedric cried, staring into the face of his best friend from Hogwarts and fellow sixth year Hufflepuff, Promise Ledger.

"I knew you were coming but I didn't know you'd be here!" Promise set her tea on a nearby stump and pulled Cedric into a tight embrace. "When'd you arrive?"

"About two minutes ago," Cedric smiled. "It's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you! Where's your tent?"

Cedric smiled and pointed over his shoulder at the tent just behind him.

"Oh!" She slapped her head with her free hand. "I knew that! I just decided to make myself some hot tea to wake me up. It's a big day, you know."

Cedric smiled. "Yeah, I waited all summer for this."

"And why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Promise put one hand on her hip. "We could have thrown you a welcoming party or something at-" she paused to check her watch. "Five forty five in the morning. Are you here by yourself?"

Just like Promise, always questioning and wanting to find out answers. She often would reiterate to Cedric time and time again about how the Sorting Hat almost sorted her into Ravenclaw, but after a very overly dramatic argument she apparently won out after the Sorting Hat saw just how much she really enjoyed her friends and how hard a worker she really was.

"Nah," Cedric shrugged. "My dad's just in the tent sleeping off the extra hours we had to walk to get here."

Promise gaped. "You walked here? Where are you located again? It can't be anywhere close. There's nothing around here for miles."

Cedric laughed. "No, no, no. We had to walk to our Portkey. I've been up since two."

"And you aren't sleeping because…"

"It's the day of the Quidditch World Cup," Cedric said, raising his eyebrows. "There's so much to see and do. Who knows who's here? I wanna meet up with people I know and all of that good stuff."

"Well," Promise smiled smugly. "I do know of one person…"

Cedric felt himself turn slightly pink. "You're joking."

Promise smiled brightly. "Around you? And about her? Absolutely not. She's even managed to snag our field if you must know."

Cedric gulped. Could it be true that she was here? "Are you messing with me Promise? Because if you are, I could hex you."

"Ced," she smiled sweetly. "We both know you'd never hex me, even if the chances of you getting caught, like here, were especially small."

Cedric pouted slightly. "You know me too well."

"After five years I would hope so!" She continued, smiling brightly. Promise never stopped smiling, except when focusing on a difficult spell of course.

"Well," Cedric shifted his weight uncomfortably. He did want to go out and meet her, but how could he? Would Promise understand? Would she go with him? What if she said no? Could Cedric hang out with her?

"Oh please, lover boy," Promise rolled her eyes. "We'll find her and she'll love it. I think we might even be able to spend some time with you, but for now," she looked around cautiously before pulling out her wand, waving it quickly, conjuring two small foldable chairs out of thin air, and taking took a seat in the one closest to Cedric's tent. "I would just like to sit and sip my fresh tea. Want some?"

"Sure," Cedric shrugged again.

"Open your hands," Promise smiled.

"Ha ha, Promise," Cedric smiled. "Nice try, but I really don't want you pouring hot tea into my hands."

"Cedric," Promise attempted to look convincing. "Have I ever let you down?"

"Well," Cedric held out the fingers on his right hand, enumerating the numerous times Promise had played some sort of joke on him. "There was that time in Herbology in our first year, you never really have given me anything but bad advice in Potions, I always get in trouble with Professor McGonagall when you talk to me in Transfiguration, and then there's that time you blurted out an incorrect answer to Professor Vector in Arithmancy and then blamed me for it."

She giggled slightly, remembering. "I forgot about that one," but she straightened up. "But other than that, what have I possibly done to you?"

"Do you really want me to go on?" Cedric sighed and opened his hands into a cup formation.

Promise smiled and waved her wand, making a cup pop out of mid air. She waved it again, and piping hot tea trickled down from the tip, into the cup in his hands.

Cedric glared at her, but she just smiled innocently. "You said you wanted some."

"Not with magic!" He whispered loudly. "You know we're not allowed to do magic outside of school!"

She smiled naively. "No one saw me, and besides, don't you think the Ministry has better things to do than picking out a sixteen-year-old's magic out of a hundred thousand witches and wizards?"

"And how long have you been using magic?" Cedric asked, frowning.

"Ever since I figured out I wouldn't get caught."

"And you've been here… how long?"

"About a week, which is, coincidentally of course, about the same time I figured out I could use freely. Besides, I know what I'm doing. No one'll see me and I know that I need the practice. I mean, who doesn't?"

"Promise," Cedric sighed, inhaling the very tempting smell of tea. "Have I ever told you that you're terrible?"

"Can't remember a conversation where that hasn't come up," She said from over the top of her large cup. "But I do, however know where she is."

"Yeah, yeah," Cedric felt himself turn pink again as much as he couldn't help it.

He obviously knew who "she" was of course. He had his eye on her since his second year when he helped to cheer her over to the Hufflepuff table. His eyes glazed over under the combination of his daydream and the hypnotic aroma of the tea in front of him. Only the cry of "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" from Promise shook him from his catatonic state. She saved all of the steaming drops of liquid from splattering all over his jeans.

"You know," Promise whispered, flicking her wands several times, conducting the tea back into the cup. "If it weren't for me I don't know what you'd do."

Cedric rolled his eyes. "Can I have my tea back?"

"You know Ced," Promise huffed, pulling a stray curl of brown hair from her head and tucking it behind her ear with her pinky. "I go through all the trouble to give you this really nice cup of hot tea and all you do is spill it. I don't think you like my cooking very much," she released a fake sob. "How could you do this to me? After all we've been through together? How could you? I thought we were honest with each other!"

"Well maybe if you let me sink into a reverie thinking about Sam every once and a while we wouldn't be in this predicament," Cedric held out his hand. "Can I have my tea back?"

"Ooooo!" Promise squealed, changing her mood faster than she could perform her spells. "Does that mean that _the _Cedric Diggory actually fantasizes and really does care deeply about our dear Samantha Bennett?"

Cedric looked around wildly.

"Are you kidding Ced? The only people up are the little children who can't even spell yet and the people who want to see if they can get to the stadium early."

"Where is the stadium?" Cedric asked, intrigued and glad to drag the conversation away from Sam.

"Other side of the woods," Promise said offhandedly, curling her legs in the chair up underneath her body. "As for Sam,"

"You're never letting that one go, are you?"

Promise smiled innocently. "Let what go? Sam? The girl who you've had a crush on for ages? I don't know what you're talking about," She toyed with her wand, flicking it absentmindedly up and down, side to side, forcing Cedric's cup around in circles and in every which way. "Oh!" She exclaimed, jerking her wand oddly, breaking the spell, and attempting to make it look like she had completely forgotten about the cup as it fell to the ground. Cedric dove forward and caught it, landing on his stomach. "_That _Sam? That really nice, sweet Sam? The one I swap girly crush stories with in the wee hours of the morning in our rooms? The one who is a really good-"

"If you finish that sentence," Cedric interrupted her as he stood up from his position on the ground, dusting his stomach off with his empty hand. "You won't want to look in the mirror until seventh year."

"Ced," Promise batted her eyes. "Honey. Both of us have already been over this today. You're not going to hex me," her eyes brightened as she focused her eyes on something behind her. "Especially not when _she's _coming this way. Don't turn around!" She whispered quickly, seeing his wish to whirl around and look at her. "She's just a brunette-blonde with green eyes. It's nothing you haven't seen before. Just act normal."

Another key Promise moment: Leave it to her to be taunting him one second and then the next attempting to hook him up with the girl of his dreams. When the time to get serious came she really-

"Hello!" came a very cheery voice from behind Cedric, directly above his head.

Cedric jumped in his chair, once again flinging the cup up into the air, the hot tea once again jumping out of the cup and skyrocketing downwards into its second skydive of the morning. He watched in horror as it fell in slow motion down to his up-until-this-point spotless pants; he suppressed a wince as he saw all of the little spheres instantly stop an inch before staining his jeans.

"Oh!" the voice said. "Sorry to frighten you like that. It's difficult to recognize anything in this giant mist. I didn't see you until just now."

"That's ok," Promise said brightly, holding her wand and the drops steady. "We never did credit Cedric with too much brains at six o'clock in the morning. A night's worth of study shows he just has lapses in thinking at certain times of the day. Especially when he slips into minutes, or even hours of daydreams. I think we set a record and made one a week dream, didn't we Ced? Anyways, sometimes a person's voice manages to snap him out of it. Problem is it upturns the huge cup of scalding tea that I made for him," She whirled her wand upwards as the drops flew up and with a downward flick landed in the cup without so much as a splash. "Isn't that right, Ced?"

"Right," Cedric said nervously from his position in the chair, overwhelmed with relief at the thought that Promise had saved him from yet another potentially embarrassing situation. He mouthed a quick thank you to Promise, who nodded, and stood up, miraculously not overturning his chair or doing anything foolish. "Sorry about that Sam," he smiled at her, attempting not to lose his breath at every perfect detail of her face. "But I've been awake for four hours already and there's a whole 'nother day before the Cup starts."

"I know!" Sam smiled. "Are you excited? I know I am!"

"You have no idea," Cedric murmured, but he knew that both he and Promise knew he wasn't talking about the Cup. "Where are you sitting?"

"About center of the pitch, pretty high up," she shrugged. "Only about seven rows away from the top box."

"Can," Cedric began, catching his breath for a second. "You hang on for a second?"

Cedric darted inside his tent and pulled the tickets out of his father's pocket, checked them quickly, and then returned them gingerly to their original position without waking his father from his deep sleep.

"I think we're in the same group of seats," Cedric looked at them both, stepping back out of his tent. "What about you, Promise? I don't think you told me where your seats were."

"Well, I know my family managed to swing just below top box seats, seeing as my dad's one of the top members of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. But I think I somehow managed to snag the seat just above to Cedric," she said as though she hadn't really planned it.

Sam whirled around. "How exciting!" she exclaimed looking at Promise.

Cedric, however, stared at her with wide-eyes. He screamed at her in his head, and knew she got the message. No way she would have played with something as sensitive as the Quidditch World Cup. Cedric wouldn't believe it. He knew Promise was daring, but this daring? He couldn't believe it.

"We all get to sit together!" Sam cried, hugging Cedric tightly. "I knew I'd get to sit near someone I knew!"

Promise flashed him the widest smile he had ever seen from her as he squeezed Sam back. He pursed his lips and glared at her. She planned the seating arrangements!

"Won't that be marvelous?" Promise asked nobody as she stood up from her chair, walking forward and grabbing Cedric's cup of hot tea that Cedric out of mid air and placing it in his hand. "All of us sitting together? All we need is a few more Hufflepuffs and we could have a 'Go Ireland!' section of the crowd all wearing yellow and black."

"That would be so exciting!" Sam smiled as she pulled Promise into a hug after she withdrew from Cedric.

"You didn't!" Cedric mouthed at her, grateful that they mastered the art of silent speaking.

Promise shook her head and smiled behind shut eyes. "No," she mouthed back. "Her and me being next to you?" she nodded her head as though it were the coolest thing ever. "Oh yeah. You've got to be crazy to think that I didn't swing that one myself."

"So," Sam pulled out of the hug and looked at Cedric and Promise. "What do we want to- am I missing something here?" She asked, changing questions mid-sentence to fit with the staring contest between Cedric and Promise.

"No," Promise smiled at Cedric. "Nothing at all."

"Great!" Sam squeaked. "Do you think I could hang out with you guys today? My family plans to just sit around all day. They've been here for three days and the magic kind of wore off five days ago. You can do the math. My little brothers would probably just run up and down the aisles all day anyways. It'd get old before could even start. Not that I don't love my little brothers, but after three days just… really old, you know?"

"We would be honored, for you to join us for the day" Promise said, enunciating exactly how they felt. "Goodness knows Cedric would hardly be able to put up with me and my rule-breaking for a full day."

"Rule breaking?" Sam looked at Promise quizzically.

"She's been using magic," Cedric rolled his eyes.

Promise grinned sheepishly. "Not that much. Just made some tea, and some for Cedric, and stopped his tea from spilling twice. You know, it's actually good tea! He just doesn't want any because he thinks I'm a terrible connoisseur."

"Now hang on just a second," Cedric interjected. "That's not true at all. I've just been basking in the smell for a while."

"Nice try buddy," She looked at him in disbelief. "Sam Bennett, would you like some tea?"

"Yes please!" Sam smiled.

"Hold out your hands," Promise smiled maliciously.

Sam glanced over at Cedric, who nodded as calmly as he could. Not shaking when looking at her took all of his resolve. He tentatively took a sip of tea for comfort to give him something to do with his hands in order to stop him from doing something foolish. The tea nearly scalded his tongue when it hit, but it managed to fall in the gray area where it was hot, but not enough so to burn his tongue. He felt a wave of calm wash over him as he downed his first gulp. What did Promise put in this tea?

Sam held out her hands as Promise waved her hand, conjuring a cup and pouring the tea exactly as she had for Cedric, except Sam's looked browner than his green tea. Sam inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of warm tea.

"This smells wonderful! What is it?"

"Something I picked up in a spell book of my mother's. I swear I know every type of tea that exists. I chose some Asian Green Tea from Ced here, and for you I chose an herbal lemon. I hope you enjoy it. I actually think about the people before I make the tea."

Sam sipped it cautiously before her face lit up. "I love it! What's in it?"

"I don't know, a little of this and a little of that. I think I threw a little Veritaserum in Cedric's," Cedric choked on his next sip, barely able to keep it in his mouth. "No, no, no Ced," She laughed, sipping more of her tea. "I'm just kidding. Nothing that drastic, although I think I put a love potion in Sam's. Maybe that's why she likes it so much," She laughed as Sam choked on her tea. "Once again, just kidding."

"She doesn't know how to kid properly," Cedric whispered to Sam.

"Look," Promise blinked very slowly. "Just because I played a simple harmless prank on you one time in Herbology in our first year around those Venomous Tentacula I get deemed 'untrustworthy.'"

"Ahem," Cedric prompted her on.

"Fine," Promise rolled her eyes and exhaled deeply. "And there was that one other time in Transfiguration when Cedric got yelled at by Professor McGonagall because he thought I was talking to him. Honestly, can you believe he'd say something like that? Me? Talk? Never! In class? Certainly not!" She smiled into her cup as she brought it to her lips.

Cedric rolled his eyes. "Do you want to keep going, Promise?"

"Keep going? Cedric," she laughed skeptically. "Don't blame me because you can't control yourself in class. Goodness, I do two things wrong and my best friend turns on me."

"Why did I not talk to you two earlier?" Sam laughed. "You two are hilarious!"

"No," Cedric glared over at Promise. "She just enjoys embellishing the truth slightly."

They stood there in silence for several more minutes, enjoying each other's silent company. With each sip, Cedric slipped into a more relaxed and calm state, still feeling the fire inside him burn for Sam.

A rooster crowed somewhere on the field, causing al three of them to jump.

"That one's new," Promise looked around.

"I thought I'd seen them all," Sam faced the direction of the rooster's call.

"All of what?" Cedric asked, taking another sip of the addictive tea.

"Some of the people who actually like to bend the rules slightly and leave the general area of their tent tend to travel around the field in an attempt to find the most ridiculous looking tent. I think your father did a good job. It's one of the more inconspicuous of the many tents here," Promise smiled into her next cup of tea. "I personally nominated it for the Lamest Attempt At Personalization Ever Award.

"Do I need to take this?" Cedric asked Sam, feeling increasingly more relaxed around her. "I mean, honestly. How much abuse can one wizard handle?"

"Well," Promise smiled at him even more innocently. "If that wizard is you, then not that much. Man, I haven't even gotten rolling yet, either."

Sam giggled in the next sip of tea. "Let's go find the rooster. Seems like he's going to get strangled if he doesn't stop," she noted as she led the way away from the forest and towards the center of the field, the location of the majority of the remaining tents.

Cedric followed behind Sam, continuing to notice the waves of light brown hair ripple down her back. "What'd you put in the tea?" He asked Promise in an undertone.

"Paranoid much?" Promise quipped back as though expecting this question.

"I'm serious," Cedric said. "There's something funny about this tea."

"I know! It's green! How strange is that?"

"Come on, Promise."

Promise smiled smugly. "Youuuu'llllll have to gueeessssss," she chanted in true Promise singsong fashion. She skipped merrily up to Sam and began to converse with her as though nothing were wrong.

Cedric rolled his eyes. He stopped trying to control Promise a long time ago. That was part of what made her so fun, though. It helped lighten up Cedric. It broke him out of his shell and helped him have fun and get work done at the same time.

The day moved by quickly as Promise, Sam, and Cedric continued on, traveling from tent to tent and admiring the handiwork of each, making funny awards, such as "Most overdressed," and "Most Likely to Succeed as _Witch Weekly_'s Next Model Dream Tent," and "Best use of an object starting with the letter J and ending with the letter M. They even crossed the forest and into the next field over, the one that Cedric knew held the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, but they didn't stay there long after seeing that, besides the definite sections separating the Ireland supporters from the Bulgarians, their field didn't appear too terribly exciting or particularly good fodder for their "Muggle Tent Awards."

Slowly the sun began to fall out of the sky and towards the earth, making Cedric terribly hungry when Sam begrudgingly left them at her tent because she needed to scarf down a fast dinner so she could get hyped for the match.

"Now," Promise smiled, skipping around Cedric brightly. "Was that really so bad? How long did you talk with her? Hours? And it came natural."

"Yeah," Cedric murmured. "Because you laced my drink with something."

"Are you kidding?" Promise looked at him. "I can make tea. Like I actually have the skills to add some special potion to the tea. That was all you buddy. Don't you feel special?"

"I feel played…" Cedric looked at her sarcastically.

"Yeah," she smiled as she paused in front of Cedric's tent. "But when you get to sit next to her at the match will it alter your ability to talk with her?" She smiled, as Cedric's face grew slightly white. "We'll see. Oh! I'm so glad I'm sitting right behind you! See you in a few! I just need to pick up my ticket and I'll meet you back here."

She hugged him quickly and skipped off to her tent several flaps down. For all the trouble she was, she did help him out a lot. He smiled, thinking about the time he spent with Sam, pulled open the flap to the tent, and entered.

His father sat on the edge of the bed, putting his shoes on. "Why didn't you wake me? It's getting late."

"Sorry, I was hanging out with my friends."

"Ced," Cedric's father stood up and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm just giving you a bad time. I know that you'll never forget about me, and I'll never forget about you. Promise."

"No, she left," Cedric stated absentmindedly. "Oh! Sorry, I was just hanging out with Promise all day and I thought you were referring to her. But seriously dad, I know."

"Have you had anything to eat?" His father asked. "I don't know if you know, but I'm a mean cook."

"Yes," Cedric suppressed a laugh and attempted to make it look like he took his dad seriously. "From what mom tells me, you do enjoy making toast, and," he paused for a minute of fake thought. "toast, and more toast."

"Yeah," Cedric's father looked at Cedric as though he was the coolest person on Earth. "But my toast is world famous."

Cedric burst out laughing. "Toast it is then."

Cedric's father flicked his wand and placed some toast on the kitchen table. His father had a point. The toast did taste superb. Cedric finished his final bite as he heard a voice whisper in his ear.

"Are you coming or not?" Promise's voice came from directly behind him.

Cedric gagged slightly. "Goodness," he choked as he swallowed his last bit of toast. "Have you no concept of manners! I'm eating here!"

"Come on," Promise grabbed his arm. "They're selling all this cool stuff outside! You have to come see it," She pulled him outside and he nearly stumbled into one of the many wizards walking down the aisle selling wares. "They're called Omnioculars! They're so cool! You can do anything with them!"

"I'll take two," Cedric held up two fingers to the vendor who pulled two out of the pouch at his hip and handed them to Cedric. "How much?"

"Twenty Galleons," the man held out his hand, and Cedric obligingly dropped the coins in his hands, handing the second pair to Promise.

She gaped in amazement at the beautiful brass pair of Omnioculars.

"No quip?" He asked smugly as he heard a large gong sound elsewhere in the distance. Bright red and green lights lined the numerous paths leading into the forest.

"Is that the bell?" Mr. Diggory asked as he paid for his pair of Omnioculars and looked towards the woods. "I guess we're moving. You ready to watch the most exciting game of Quidditch you've ever seen?"

"Are we?" Promise smiled as she led the march into the forest.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or this wicked match, or Cedric, or his father. I do however own a really nice set of humorous, yet witty banters, and Promise and Sam… Yeah… All that? That's mine

**Chapter 3  
Quidditch**

Cedric watched the trees move slowly past as he followed the path Promise cut through the forest. The constant buzz of anxious fans filled his ears. His eyes began to droop, but perked up after every fall with the prospect of the coming match. He smiled at the prospect of seeing the legendary Irish chasers. Perhaps he could pull strategies from this game and use them in practice this year.

"There it is!" Promise smiled, waving her hands and presenting the stadium in front of them with her hands.

Cedric's jaw dropped. The gold stadium stretched high into the sky and curved around so far that Cedric couldn't even see much else besides the huge sheet of gold glinting in the twilight in front of him.

"Blimey," Cedric's father's jaw dropped. "I heard rumors about this place. Guess they weren't rumors."

"Yeah," Promise sighed. "I get like that every time I see it, too."

Cedric refused to ask her the question because he already knew the answer: Every day since she figured out that she could.

Promise kept her very heroic looking pose for several seconds until Cedric pushed past her, careful to bump her as he passed. He smirked, but didn't bother to turn his head. She would just stand there, looking offended until she realized he didn't really care and then she'd just skip merrily to catch up with him. Nothing else would be said on the subject.

Cedric's father moved slightly faster to catch up with them. "So, Promise, where are you sitting?"

"Did Cedric not tell you?" Promise asked. "I'm sitting in the row above you."

"That's exciting," Cedric's father said.

"I blame my father," Promise smiled, but after a second it faltered and her head drooped.

"Can I have my ticket dad?" Cedric asked when they got closer to the gate.

Cedric's father withdrew the shiny gold tickets engraved with both of their names and handed Cedric's to him. Shivers shot down his spine as Cedric looked at the ticket. Its flexible gold showed a shamrock shaking a fist that transformed into a beautiful woman, who looked back, fire in her eyes.

Cedric walked up to the man taking tickets at the gate.

"Excited Mr. Diggory?" the man asked practically wrenching the ticket from Cedric's outstretched hand.

"You have no idea," Cedric quivered with anticipation.

"Dead center of the pitch! Fifth row from the top! Great seats! Enjoy the match!"

He smiled as he waved his wand and engraved a seal in the bottom of the ticket.

Cedric nodded and moved to one side of the line to wait for Promise and his father. Once assembled, they joined the trek up the stairs to find their seats in the stadium. They moved up the stairs slowly and every so often, each time a group siphoned off into another row. The trek to Cedric's seat left him weary, especially after the full day and then some he'd been awake for. He grew a feeling in his stomach that his father had the right idea by sleeping all day. He looked over at Promise, who shook almost uncontrollably in anticipation for the match.

At last, they reached their seats, Cedric flopped into it, pulling out his Omnioculars and people watching with his new pair of Omnioculars.

A woman on the other side of the field began to nod off as her children pointed imaginary wands at each other from over their mother's back. Could you blame her? She probably hadn't had a wink of sleep in two days. Cedric shook his head in disgust. They needed to give their mother a rest.

Something tapped the top of Cedric's head. He turned around to see Promise sitting directly behind him in the row above. She looked through her own pair of Omnioculars at him, but instead of people watching as Cedric did, she looked at him through giant, magnified eyes. A purple lens slid down inside the Omnioculars and tinted her blue eyes.

"Promise?" Cedric looked at her. "What are you doing?"

"You slowed down when you said that," Promise giggled. "Your lips are still finishing what you're saying and the purple lettering at the top of the lenses say: _Pretty Boy Staring: Boring Formation_."

He scowled at her.

"I'm just kidding," she laughed and started people watching like Cedric.

Cedric laughed and followed suit. He watched the thousands of people slowly file into their seats, slowly, each person consistently checking their row, their seat number, and make sure everyone else sat in the proper seat.

"Cedric!" Sam's voice came from his right side.

"Ms. Bennett!" he said, teasing as she shuffled along the row to take her seat at Cedric's side, and forgetting, in his excitement, to remove the Omnioculars from his eyes.

"Oh!" Sam squealed. "Where did you get those?"

Cedric frantically took them from his eyes. How embarrassing!

"Let me see them," Sam pleaded.

Cedric handed them over without so much as a second thought. How could he say no to those green eyes? Those luscious, beautiful, entrancing green eyes? The way she flicked her hair back behind her ears as she lifted the Omnioculars and gracefully brought them to her eyes as she took her seat.

He blinked hard to snap himself out of his daydream. He couldn't possibly focus on Sam now. The stadium would be completely full in a matter of minutes. Sam just made it so difficult to concentrate.

"Where's Promise?" Sam asked, continuing her Omniocular sweep around the stadium.

Cedric looked over as Promise's hand tapped Sam on the head. Sam giggled and handed Cedric back his Omnioculars.

"You got some too, Promise?" Sam said excitedly. "I'm so jealous! They make those Muggle binoculars look like complete jokes."

"And you are?" Cedric's father leaned over and looked at Sam, holding out his hand.

"Dad," Cedric smiled. "This is Samantha Bennett. She'll be a fifth year at Hogwarts this coming September. Sam, this is my dad, and member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Diggory," Sam smiled, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

"Likewise, Ms. Bennett," Cedric's father chuckled at her formality.

Cedric checked down the row as the people he assumed to be the four other Bennetts take their seats next to Sam. Strategically, it seemed, Sam's parents sat between each of the siblings, so that it followed a child-parent-child pattern.

"Cedric," Sam said. "This is my family. Down the line we have my mother, my youngest brother, Harold, my father, and my younger brother Alex. Family, this is Cedric. Cedric Diggory."

"Cedric?" Mrs. Bennett inquired confused. "Sam's talked all about you, naturally. Seeker and captain of the Hufflepuff house Quidditch team and a Prefect, but Sam'll be joining you, of course."

Cedric stared blankly at Sam's mother.

"Didn't Sam tell you?" Sam's mother turned from Sam to Cedric and then back to Sam. "Sam, would you like to tell him?"

"Mom," Sam sighed, attempting to look impassive about the whole thing although she did a very terrible job of it all. "It's not a big deal."

"She's going to be a Prefect this year," Sam's mother beamed with pride.

Cedric's jaw dropped. "Sam!" he exclaimed. "After hanging out with you all day, how could you not tell me?"

"Or me," Promise intruded on the conversation by leaning on Cedric's shoulder. She responded quickly to the look on Mrs. Bennett's face. "Sorry about that," she held out her hand. "I'm Promise. Cedric's bestest friend in the whole wide world and the better Prefect."

"I didn't think it was that important," Sam blushed furiously. "How am I supposed to compete with you two?"

"You know what this means, Ced?" Promise nudged Cedric's arm. "We'll have to have even more fun as Prefects."

Cedric's mind drifted slightly, drifting to the all Prefect meeting in the Hogwarts Express, The Hufflepuff Common Room, the Kitchens… Promise, Sam, and him. Three Prefects from Hufflepuff.

Promise snapped her fingers in Cedric's left ear without Sam's noticing. "We'll have so much fun!"

Cedric nodded as the announcer's voice boomed around the stadium.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… Welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The roar of the crowd in Cedric's ears deafened him, creating the vibrations in his ear that happened only when the sound got too loud.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… The Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

Cedric put the Omnioculars up to his eyes, watching as a hundred beautiful, silver haired women glided gracefully onto the field.

"Oh," Cedric looked over at his father's drooping face. His father plugged his ears. What could be so important that Cedric's father needed to cover his ears?

He suddenly, however, realized that his father was really missing out on something. Then, just as fast, he realized he didn't care. They had always danced, and they always would dance. He didn't care. They danced gracefully, hair swishing so rhythmically.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Cedric heard Promise's voice whisper in his ear. A hand grabbed his shoulder as his body slapped together, going rigid. Another hand grabbed his shoulders. The first he instantly recognized as Promise's hand. Of course Promise would stop- Who had the other hand? Sam. It was Sam… He snapped out of his daze and realized where he was.

He was standing up straight and couldn't move any part of his frozen body. Men from around the stadium moved, almost possessed, towards the pitch, where the pretty women danced, the focal point of the convergence. Slowly, he felt himself slip back into his trance.

"Careful, lover boy," he heard Promise whisper from somewhere far away. "You're not doing a very good job of impressing Sam."

Sam giggled, snapping Cedric back to reality. "This is really funny, Ced."

He felt his body turn to jelly as the women stopped dancing and Promise released him from the body binding curse.

"Plug your ears next time," Promise hinted. "They're Veela. You remember what Lupin said last year?"

Cedric plugged his ears, causing Promise to break into peels of laughter.

"Good timing! Too bad they already stopped!" She laughed.

"Ha ha, Promise," Cedric murmured blushing.

"Just remember it for next time," Promise patted him on the back.

"Sam helped it," Cedric whispered in Promise ears so softly he could barely hear it himself. "What does that mean?"

"Cedric," Promise looked at him as though he was a complete idiot. "For being one of the smartest people in our year you sure are stupid."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Anything you want it to mean," Promise scoffed, looking back into her Omnioculars.

Cedric clenched his teeth. Sometimes she could be such a pain.

"And now!" the announcer's voice echoed around the stadium again. "Kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

A massive green jet of light flew into the stadium right over Cedric's head. It circled the stadium quickly and broke apart into two other jets of light at the center of the pitch and sped towards the goalposts. They arched over the stadium and met in the center, creating a huge colorful rainbow. The tail ends of the rainbow met each other and erupted into a massive shamrock which soared around the stadium, dropping huge handfuls of gold.

"Leprechauns!" Sam shouted over the greedy din.

Cedric looked up as the gold dropped and landed all around him.

"You don't want any?" Promise shouted as people scrambled for the coins.

"Nah," Cedric waved her off. "That's alright."

And as far as he was concerned, it was. He didn't need money. Sure, it made him happy, but who didn't get some joy from money? But he had Promise, Sam, Prefect status, Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff team, and a pocketful of O.W.L.'s. Money just wasn't a necessity.

"Noble Cedric," Promise smirked. "More for me."

Sam looked at the gold she'd been collecting in her hands as it fell out of the sky. She pondered for a split second before dropping it. "I had to do it fast or I would have second guessed myself," she smirked weakly.

Cedric smiled back. "You didn't have to do that, you know. I just don't need gold, you know?"

"Yeah, but," she looked into his eyes purposefully. "I guess I don't need it either."

They both smirked and turned around slowly to face Promise, whose pockets bulged with gold.

"Right," she smiled, unconvinced. "Like I'm emptying my pockets for you two."

Cedric's father, who had taken interest in the situation, turned around and beckoned Promise to lean over. He whispered something in her ear. Promise's face turned instantly sour as she grabbed the gold out of her pockets and slammed the pieces into the ground ungratefully.

"Now," Sam looked innocently at Promise. "Don't you feel better?"

Promise scowled and muttered something about "stupid little Leprechauns"

Cedric looked back at Sam as the leprechauns finally descended to their position on the pitch across from the Veela and sat cross-legged, smoking their pipes.

"And now," the announcer's voice bounced around the stadium once more. "Ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome- The Bulgarian National Quidditch team! I give you- Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaand Krum!"

Eight red blurs zipped out of the entrance at one corner of the pitch as the Bulgarian supporters screamed and clapped in support of their national team. Cedric paid particular interest in Bulgarian seeker Victor Krum, who was supposedly the best seeker in the world.

"And some girls say he's attractive," Sam rolled her eyes. "Poor girls have no idea what a good looking guy looks like."

"Well, Sam," Promise said slowly, contemplatively. "What do you think- Ow!" She yelped as Cedric nudged her in the ribs.

How could Promise actually ask a question like that at a time like this?

"And now, please greet- The Irish national Quidditch Team!" The announcer yelled, obviously enjoying the opening match as much as the crowd. "Presenting- Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand Lynch!"

Seven green blurs raced out of their entrance to tumultuous applause.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

A wizard in gold robes strode into the middle of the pitch, wooden box of balls under one arm, broomstick under the other. Mostafa mounted his broom and kicked the box open, propelling the Quaffle high into the sky. The two bludgers zipped off in two random directions, and Cedric never even had the chance to watch the snitch leave the crate.

Mostafa shot into the air and, with a blow of his whistle, the match began.

Cedric found himself torn between the three events of the match. The seeker part of him wanted to watch Krum and Lynch frantically search for the snitch. The part of him that wanted to laugh wanted to follow the chasers and their bludgers. After a few seconds, however, he felt the overpowering urge to watch the superb chasers. True, he had seen professional Quidditch in the past, but this far surpassed anything he had ever seen. He tried his best to keep an eye on the Quaffle, but it passed so quickly that even the announcer had a hard time keeping up. After less than two and a half minutes, Ireland managed to score one goal. After ten minutes they were leading by thirty points.

What the Bulgarians lacked in chasers, however, they made up for in their two beaters. After a few more minutes, they had effectively managed to scatter the Irish team enough to allow Ivanova to score Bulgaria's first goal.

Cedric instinctively grabbed Sam's hand as, from the lower part of his vision, he noticed the Veela begin to dance. Sam shot him a look of astonishment.

"Keep me distracted," He smiled, trying to find the confidence in himself to keep holding onto her hand.

She smiled back and kept watching the game. Her fingers felt cool. Silky. Smooth. Entrancing. So delicate that-

Every last wizard in the stands gasped, all eyes shooting to the two seekers, Krum and Lynch, who both spiraled downwards towards the pitch.

"What are they doing?" Promise screamed.

Cedric released Sam's hand and brought the Omnioculars to his eyes quickly. He caught sight of Krum and followed his trail to the pitch, but saw no snitch. Smirking smugly, he looked back at Krum, whose face seemed contorted in intense concentration.

"What's he doing?" Promise half screamed. "There's no snitch!"

"Promise," Cedric lowered his Omnioculars and moved his head backwards to acknowledge Promise, not taking his eyes off of the plunging seekers. "For being one of the smartest people in our year, you sure aren't very bright."

Cedric felt the anger come off Promise as Krum pulled out of the dive and Lynch ploughed straight into the ground. A groan rippled through the crowd. Cedric smiled. Simple.

"What was the point of that?" Promise asked Cedric as the announcer announced a time out.

"Use the Omnioculars," Cedric proposed.

He handed his own pair to Sam as he watched the three people around him (his father, Sam, and Promise) all fiddle with the dial on their Omnioculars to watch the play-by-play replay breakdown in slow motion.

Sam and Cedric's father sighed in understanding.

"Why don't you ever feint?" Promise said loudly, almost disappointed.

"You might think I'm good Promise," Cedric winked at Sam. "But I am certainly not good enough, even by your standards, to even risk feinting. I'd get ploughed like Lynch down there."

When the game continued, Cedric watched the Irish whisk off a hundred more points. Still, the game fell into chaos. The Bulgarians, jealous of the Irish players' control of the game, began to commit fouls against them. At one point, the referee joined the Veela in their dance. Cedric squeezed Sam's hand in order to not lose himself in their seduction as he laughed along with most of the crowd at watching Mostafa's hilarious antics.

Within the next five minutes, the game had escalated to such bedlam that the Veela began openly attacking the Leprechauns as the Bulgarian Beaters began beating anything in their path. One of the Veela managed to set Mostafa's broom on fire during the war between the Veela and the Ministry wizards.

Amid the commotion, Krum broke his nose due to a stray bludger mere seconds before Lynch spotted the snitch and spiraled into another dive. Krum barely managed to outdistance Lynch in his mad grab for the snitch and pulled out of the dive. Unfortunately for Lynch, he hit the ground at full speed yet again and immediately fell to the mercy of a platoon of Veela.

"Well that's a way to get back at someone for winning," Sam muttered.

Cedric laughed. Was victory really worth the whole debacle of mass chaos and panic on the field? But now that he thought about it, he couldn't get the mass chaos and panic out of his brain. Perhaps that was why everyone loved the Quidditch World Cup.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Cedric, Cedric's father, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, or even the thoughts and events of this chapter, which happen simultaneously with the events following the Quidditch World Cup in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I do, however, love Sam and Promise to death, because they're my two favorite original characters. Other than that… just enjoy!

**Chapter 4  
Tree Forts**

"So why can't you play like that, Ced?" Promise teased him, throwing a Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean at Cedric, who lay outstretched on his bed.

"Because I'm just a sixth year Hufflepuff," he smiled as he picked up the gray-green bean and popped it in his mouth. "And I'm not a professional Quidd-" He gagged and spit out the disgusting half-chewed candy.

"What'd you get?" Sam asked, sitting the comfortable armchair Promise had conjured up next to the bed.

"Snail," Cedric coughed as Promise fell backwards on the bed, laughing, keeping her legs crossed as she half-flipped.

"You should be like me," Promise smiled, popping a red and yellow speckled bean into her mouth. She constantly bragged about being able to determine the exact flavor of nearly every Bertie Bott bean she came across, which explained exactly why Cedric always managed to get some ridiculous, disgusting flavor like paint, which happened to be the first bean she had ever given him when they met on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Promise tossed Sam one of the candies out of her bag. Sam eyed the small white, possibly dangerous, bean apprehensively before picking it up and examining it between her index finger and thumb, holding it close to her eye.

"Oh Sam," Promise rolled her eyes, offended. "Don't you trust my sixth sense? I'm insulted. But, if it makes you feel any better it's vanilla flavored. Trust me."

Sam brought the innocent white sweet to her nose and inhaled deeply in a futile attempt to sniff out the flavor.

Promise rolled her eyes. "No, Sam, you can't smell 'em and tell the flavor. They're designed to prevent that. That Bertie Bott had a very sadistic sense of humor."

Sam closed her eyes and opened her mouth, holding the bean between her thumb and forefinger, poised like she was prepared to dive off into the dark abyss between cliffs with nothing more than a rope held by friends for support.

"You can trust her, Sam," Cedric urged. "If there's one thing Promise never jokes about, it's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. It's something to do with a reputation she must uphold or some other nonsense," he smirked.

Promise gave Cedric a very sarcastic "you're-so-funny-when-you-tease-me" look before grabbing a handful of beans out of the bag, removing a good portion of them and setting them aside in what appeared to be a "Throw at Cedric" pile on the bed. She dropped those left behind in her hand into her mouth all at once. The potency of what could have possibly been in her hands made Cedric quiver. So many flavors, even good ones, all at once couldn't taste good. No way.

The three of them jumped as a loud bang, a crash, laughter, and cheers echoed again across the field outside. They looked at each other and laughed. Cedric looked at his father, who lay in his bed on his stomach, head buried under his pillow.

"Asleep yet, dad?" Cedric whispered loudly, soft enough to make himself sound courteous, but loud enough to disturb his father.

"Not with all the celebrating going on out there," Cedric's father said, voice muffled almost completely through the combination of the continuous cheers and the pillow stuffed in his face. "They're going to be at this all night."

"What's wrong, Mr. Diggory?" Sam inquired. "I thought you wanted Ireland to win."

"Oh, I did," Cedric's father scoffed, flipping onto his back and facing the three's group huddle on Cedric's bed. "But that doesn't mean I don't like sleep. Why aren't you two in bed anyways?"

Promise raised her hand. "Umm, My parents don't care?"

"And my mom says that I can hang out as long as I want in honor of the Irish victory," Sam smiled and shrugged.

Cedric felt himself melt slightly as he watched Sam's smile. Almost instantly, a green and brown bean hit him in the forehead, knocking him from his stupor. He rubbed his forehead slightly to see Promise giving him a definite "not now" signal.

"Well," Cedric's father murmured. "I love how you three are hanging out, but could you please go hang out somewhere else? I'd like to get some sleep."

"Sure," Cedric kicked himself onto his feet from the bed, putting the bean on his tongue and chomping down on it, a definite metal taste lining his tongue. "Promise, what'd you give me?"

"Copper," she said, bored. "Couldn't you tell?"

"Can't that kill me?"

"Only in the mornings," Promise smiled.

They left the tent to the largest party scene Cedric had ever seen. What appeared to be every single tent participated in the massive celebration. Fireworks flew. Children glided around on tiny broomsticks, attempting to dive, but forced out of it by some child protection on the broom.

"I love winning," Sam sighed.

They moved through the encampment. Cedric found himself unable to not smile in the wake of the celebrations. Promise popped beans between flashes of shiny bright smiles of teeth. Sam, however, seemed not enthralled so much with the celebrations, but rather, in just being near Promise and Cedric.

Cedric bumped into a man shrouded in a black cloak. He didn't get a chance to see the man's face, but found himself unable to focus on anything other than the suspiciousness. Without warning and not wanting to disturb Promise and Sam's good time, he shot down a side alley of tents and followed the man's path toward the line of trees separating the Cedric's field from Harry Potter's field.

He paused behind a tent as the man in black whisked into the trees. He needed to sprint the next twenty yards in order to not be noticed. Ready, Ced? Three, two-

"What are you doing?" Promise's voice came from behind him.

Cedric jumped about five feet into the air. "What are you doing here?" He hissed.

"Following you," Promise looked at him with a look that made Cedric feel like an idiot. "What does it look like we're doing?"

"But what are _you _doing, Cedric?" Sam asked him from behind Promise.

"I was just… I mean… I just had a… well…" His voice trailed off.

"Cedric?" Promise pursed her lips as though attempting to understand Cedric's motives. "Do you mean to tell me that you attempted to have an adventure and not tell me? Not to mention Sam?"

"It wasn't an adventure," Cedric bowed his head. "I saw a suspicious looking man, got a strange feeling, and, wanting to not ruin your fun, decided to follow him."

Promise merely looked at him. "And you didn't invite me because…"

"You looked like you were having fun?"

"Cedric," she put a hand on his shoulder. "How can you not invite me? Come on. I'm such fun to be around, and I'd be a help if you needed magic," Cedric glared at her. "Oh please. We both know that you'd never do magic outside of school. I'm coming with you."

"Ahem," Sam chimed in.

"Fine. _We're_ coming with you" and without so much as another word, Promise sprinted the distance to the trees separating the two fields. Sam followed her quickly, leaving Cedric to roll his eyes before bolting after them.

The woods were dark, yet easy to traverse through. They were very well kempt for a small forest. Promise, somehow instinctively, led their blind march through the woods.

"Why don't you light your wand?" Sam whispered.

"If we're following someone we can't give ourselves away," Promise whispered back. "Now shh! I'm trying to concentrate."

They continued walking through the forest until Cedric saw a small group of lights in a glade fairly close to their position. Promise moved quickly and diligently to the edge of the glade, where she picked a tree and climbed high enough to listen in to the conversation. Cedric and Sam followed suit as quietly as they could, rustling very few leaves.

"-night to get together," came a voice of the dozen or so men in the circle. "Lot's of people. No one will notice us missing, in the high fervor, which we can use to fuel panic."

"I agree," came the voice of another. "It's been far too long since a demonstration," Cedric swore he heard the sound of the man licking his lips. "And there are some very decent muggles to play games on."

"But where will we start?" Another voice interrupted.

"What about the Muggle cottage nearest the Portkey drop point? We can apparate there. I know there are at least four of those filthy creatures. We can make an example of them all."

The men laughed and cheered in unison.

"But when?"

"How about now? If we wait too much longer the fun will die out. Let's move now.

"But what about the ministry?"

"It'll be impossible for the Ministry to catch us. They'll be too concerned with their precious Muggles."

They all nodded and murmured in agreement before popping away.

Cedric climbed to the base of the tree. "What was that about?"

"I don't know," Sam mused.

"Well, whoever they were, they didn't sound like they were going to go ride a talking unicorn," Promise said seriously, voice devoid of the normal joking tone. "Whatever they're going to do is probably happening right now. Did you hear how they talked about the chaos? We need to tell someone."

"Someone from the ministry. What about my dad?" Cedric asked.

"Then let's go," Sam said. "You heard how they were apparating to that poor Muggle's cottage. If we don't act soon something terrible could happen."

Cedric nodded. "We'll tell my dad and we can take it from there."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Promise asked. "Let's go!"

They sprinted out of the forest the way they came, managing to pass through the throng of celebrators with little difficulty, and several minutes later reached Cedric's tent, only to hear loud screams and bangs echo far off in the distance.

Cedric burst into the tent. "Dad," he shook his dad as Sam and Promise stood and watched.

"What?" Cedric's father asked groggily. Cedric guessed his father really did get that coveted sleep after all.

"Something's wrong. We went into the woods following this man. He led us to this circle of men in black cloaks. They talked about causing chaos and starting with the Muggle who lives on the first encampment."

"Whoa," Cedric's father asked, pulling on his glasses, instantly awake. "Slow down. What happened?"

More bangs echoed, closer this time. The celebration had quieted down significantly as Cedric began to hear screams start amid the celebration.

"I don't know. But something'll happen, and I think it's starting right now, Mr. Diggory," Promise took immediate control of the situation. "You need to round up every Ministry wizard and witch you can find and send them to the next field over. Peoples' lives are at stake."

"I'll do jus-"

A wizard in a pair of pajama pants and a shirt under an untied wizarding robe cut off Cedric's father by ripping back the flap to the tent. "Amos," the wizard began. "Something's wrong. We've just gotten word that there is a Death Eater attack in the next field over."

Cedric's father sprang out of bed and grabbed his wand.

"Kids, I want you to get to the forest now. Don't ask questions, but stay there until you get word from ministry wizards or me to return back here. Do not go anywhere else. Promise, that means you."

Promise's nodded, eyes wide, taking Cedric's father seriously.

They moved quickly and orderly out of the tent. Mr. Diggory repeated his instructions very quickly before apparating away.

"Death Eater?" Sam asked.

"Followers of Lord Voldemort," Promise told her, weaving a way to the forest near the first field and paying no attention to Cedric's cringing at the sound of 'the name.' "They were the ones we saw in the woods."

"What are they doing here?"

"Having a good time by torturing Muggles and creating chaos."

They entered the trees and moved quickly against the flow of the crowd in order to try to see the happenings in the other field. Cedric followed Promise as she scurried up a tree. His jaw dropped.

A tightly knit group of black robed wizards roamed the large grounds, lighting the tents they passed on fire while holding four limp bodies in the air above them. Ministry wizards flowed from everywhere towards the small cluster of men. Even from this distance, Cedric could hear the sick, twisted laughter of the men.

Cedric looked down as he heard several figures sprint through the trees, but halt when one tripped. He looked down to see none other than Hermione Granger light her wand over the sprawled form of Ron Weasley, Harry Potter looking on, visibly concerned. The three exchanged words and then, without warning, spun around to face the darkness as a silver haired boy he recognized as Slytherin Seeker Draco Malfoy emerge from the darkness to start a conversation. He tapped Promise on the shoe and pointed down to the ground. Promise nodded as Cedric lightly tapped Sam's shoulder with his shoe. She already seemed focused on the conversation.

Whatever exchange of words took place, they seemed to seriously offend Hermione. Harry stood up. Cedric vaguely remembered the tension he always witnessed whenever Draco and Harry had made eye contact. Hermione dragged Ron and Harry away from Draco after a quick lashing of words. Draco turned, with a wide grin as he watched the chaos on the fiery field.

Several more minutes passed. Cedric still had difficulty perceiving exactly what was happening on the field, but it didn't look like the Ministry officials were having much success. They appeared to be trying to help the four people, whom Cedric assumed to be the Muggle family of the first field, but held back for fear of not hurting the Muggles.

Without warning, Cedric heard an incantation from far away, and a large green light brightened the sky, weaving into the pattern of a skull with a large snake protruding from its mouth. Cedric's heart sank into the bowels of his stomach. Screams erupted from the forest as Cedric turned to look at the sinister figures terrorizing the fields below. They dissapparated instantly, forcing the ministry wizards to save the four muggles from falling.

"We need to get on the ground. Now," Promise ordered.

"Why?" Sam asked. "What is that?"

"Sam," Cedric stated as calmly as he could, urgency still bleeding through his voice. "That's the Dark Mark. We need to get down now."

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" Promise whispered, coaxing Sam and Cedric down to the ground in a soft glide, like paper on the wind.

Promise landed on the ground mere seconds after Sam and Cedric.

"What's going on? What is that?" Sam demanded.

"That's the mark of You Know Who!," Cedric explained as he led the way back towards their field. "We need to get inside somewhere, now."

"We'll go to your tent. It's the closest," Promise told him.

Cedric led the way quickly as Sam continued questioning.

"So it's his mark. It's not like he's back."

"That's the point, Sam," Promise attempted to explain. "We can't take that risk. If he's here, nobody's safe. Well, everyone except for Harry Potter."

They moved quickly in silence until they arrived back at Cedric's tent. No one spoke, except for Cedric, who simply said. "Let's just sit tight here until dad gets back."

Cedric paced around the tent. Sam sat on the bed, unsure of what to do. Promise placed herself on the kitchen counter and pondered the meaning of the mark in the sky.

An hour passed before Mr. Diggory marched back into the tent.

"What's going on?" Promise demanded as he walked back in.

"Someone conjured the Dark Mark, an elf by the looks of it."

"Whose elf?" Cedric asked.

"Barty Crouch's."

"Who's that?" Sam asked.

"He's the head of the Department for Magical Cooperation at the Ministry," Cedric told her.

"Listen," Mr. Diggory said. "Sam, Promise, you both need to get back to your tents. Your parents are probably very upset and worried."

"I'll write," Cedric called out as they nodded, leaving the tent. When they had gone he turned to his father. "What does it mean, Dad?"

"I don't know, Ced" His father replied, sitting back in his chair and rubbing his eyes vigorously. "But I know that I won't have any answers for you until at least tomorrow. Now go to bed. You've had more than your share of a long day."

Cedric nodded and wiggled his way into his bed before passing out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Cedric, or his father, or any of these locations, especially not Diagon Alley. No sir, no way. But! I own Promise and Sam and all the events that occur here. They're mine. Mine I tell you! Mine!

**Chapter 5  
Shopping**

The uneventful trip back to Cedric's house took the better part of the next morning. Ministry officials forced Cedric and his father to wait in a long line to grab a portkey, but when they finally got one, it took them all the way back to field that was just a ten minute walk from their house.

He walked in the front door just ahead of his father. "Mom! We're home!"

Cedric only caught the glimpse of a blur whizzing past them from the kitchen as his mother ran forward and pulled them both into a tight embrace. "Thank goodness you two are ok! I was worried sick after the headline from this morning!"

"What'd it say?" Cedric asked intrigued.

"Nothing important," His mother smiled at him before pulling him close, overjoyed at having him in front of her. "It described the events of last night," She pulled back her hair, frazzled. "But I'm glad you two are back and safe."

"Thanks mom," Cedric hugged her. "But right now I think I just need to get to bed. I'm really tired after being up for nearly two days straight, and it's not like I just sat around all day yesterday."

His parents smiled at him. "Of course dear," His father's eyes twinkled. "I have to go into the office."

His mother whirled on him. "Why?"

"With this whole Dark Mark fiasco," His father rubbed his eyes. "The Ministry's going to need all the help it can get to qualm the general public. But I know that I'm not the only one. Arthur Weasley's going in too. His department shouldn't even be involved, and he's still going in. My goodness do I admire that man. He works so hard. Must be one of the most under appreciated men at the ministry."

"So noble, my husband," Cedric's mother placed her hand on her husband's cheek. She kissed him gingerly, romantically. Cedric sighed inside. His parents loved each other so much. "Go, honey. I'll manage here. Stay safe."

"Always do," Cedric's father smiled at his wife. "You get some sleep, Ced," His father winked at him before disappearing with a small pop.

"Your father never really manages to get much rest, does he?" Cedric's mother sighed at him.

"You should have seen him yesterday," Cedric shrugged. "We got to our tent and he slept until the match, and even afterwards he went back to sleep until the Death Eaters showed up."

Cedric's mother raised her eyebrows. "That's so unlike your father."

Cedric shrugged. "Guess he just needed it. As for me, though," he yawned widely for several seconds. "I'll take a leaf out of the book he should follow and get some sleep."

"Alright," His mother smiled at him. "I'm going to go into work for a few hours, but I'll be back before dark," she kissed him on the forehead. "Sweet dreams sweetie. If you need anything there's stuff in the kitchen."

Cedric nodded and turned to go upstairs. He opened the door to his room and collapsed on the bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Only the chill in his room woke him up. He looked up at the darkness in the sky outside as he rubbed his shoulder blade vigorously to release the kink that had formed while he slept. Rolling his slightly sore neck, he kicked off his shoes, socks, pants, and shirt, yawned again as he slipped on his pajama bottoms, and wiggled under the covers. Fidgeting slightly to complete the process of nestling into his bed, he placed his hands underneath his pillow and slipped back to sleep.

The warmth of the covers woke him up as he opened his eyes again. Light perforated through the blinds of his room. He stood up and lifted one of them, flooding his eyes with light. Reflexively, he dropped the curtain and squinted his eyes. Yep, he definitely managed to sleep through a whole day.

He grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt before he went into the bathroom. He yawned as he sipped off his clothes and dunked himself into the hot water filling his bathtub. His muscles untensed and he drifted into a type of alert dreamy state. After several minutes, as the water grew cold, he stepped out, dried himself off and reclothed.

He stepped to his desk, where his tawny owl, Dani, sat perched, clicking her beak. He smiled at her. "Good Morning, Dani. Care to run some errands for me?"

She hooted in approval.

"Good," Cedric smiled. "There's some letters I need you to send, one to Promise and another to a girl named Sam Bennet. I think I pointed her one time at the Hufflepuff table. You know who I'm talking about, right?"

Dani hooted again.

"Ok. Let me just write them really quickly."

He pulled out a quill and two small pieces of parchment and quickly scribbled two identical notes, asking Promise if they could do their annual End-of-Summer-Holiday and Going-Back-To-Hogwarts Shopping Spree in Diagon Alley sometime within the next week and asking Sam if she would care to join the two of them.

After some quick twine and fancy tying, he whisked Dani off into the air and off to her destinations. He walked downstairs into the kitchen to see his father finishing up on his last bite of toast, ready to head into the office for another day of work.

"Morning, Dad."

"Morning, Ced," His father's eyes twinkled back at him as he put down his copy of _The Daily Prophet_. "Have a good sleep?"

"Yeah," Cedric nodded. "Better than the ones I have at school, that's for sure."

"Good," His father continued smiling. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Not sure yet," Cedric replied. He pulled a plate out of a cabinet and scraped the leftover eggs from the pan left on the stove onto his plate. "I'll probably just finish up some Arithmancy homework I have left." He paused, taking a bite of eggs. "Hey, dad? Later this week I wanna to go to Diagon Alley for my annual trip with Promise. Is that ok?"

Cedric's father nodded. "After this debacle at the World Cup, I'd probably say no. But as long as you promise to stay with Promise, I guess it's alright."

Cedric beamed at him as he placed the last two pieces of toast onto his plate next to his eggs.

"Until tonight then, Ced," His father smiled. "Loads of stuff at the Ministry, so I probably won't be home until late. Your mother's at work, and she'll be home for dinner later tonight."

Cedric nodded. "Until then."

Cedric sat down as his father dissapparated with a small pop. Cedric sighed and wolfed down his toast and eggs. He washed his plate, went back upstairs, pulled out his Arithmancy textbook, and stared blankly at it for several minutes before opening it. After a few minutes, he stretched his arms in front of him and pushed them back and forth across his chest. At least he saved Arithmancy for last. He'd have fun doing Arithmancy, he always did, but that didn't mean he always wanted to do it. Yes, he loved Professor Vector, but the amount of homework she gave always invariably made Cedric gag, especially when she gave more than any other teacher Cedric had, and more than ever when it came to summers, when she piled on the homework to keep the student's "lively minds constantly riveted and never unfocused." With a final, furtive sigh Cedric set to work, performing the numerous calculations diligently and reading the final passages and pages in his textbook multiple times, careful to understand the concepts totally and completely. Every so often, he managed to catch his mistakes early enough to not have them affect the final results of his problems. Thank goodness he double-checked each step twice! To make a mistake and not catch it almost always guaranteed the complete restarting of a section.

"Cedric!" His mother called out, making Cedric jump. "Cedric! Dinner time!"

Cedric looked out the window, giving his mind the usual sort of relaxed burning it felt after his token study sessions. The village near his house twinkled dimly in the dwindling twilight. Cedric leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"How long was I out?" Cedric asked his mother as he walked into the kitchen several seconds later.

"I haven't seen you since yesterday," His mother kissed his forehead. "Diagon Alley is still as dead today as it was yesterday, and those who were actually there to shop were in no mood for the usual chatter during their checkout. Even Flourish was rather sad. Just goes to show you that fear is bad for business."

"If you say so, mom," Cedric pulled out two plates and set them on the table. "I talked to dad before he left this morning. He said he probably won't be home until late."

"Ok," His mother smiled as she gracefully ladled stew from the pot onto the plates with her wand. "You hungry at all?"

"You have no idea," Cedric's stomach growled. "I've been working on Arithmancy all day and got caught up in it. I didn't even get the chance to eat lunch."

"Hard worker Cedric," Her mother chuckled. "Don't work so much or you'll end up like your father. Remember sleep?"

They laughed. The meal, like every other of his mother's, tasted spectacular. They spent the meal discussing the Quidditch World Cup. Cedric's mother wanted ever detail, bringing up her inability to get time off of work, and thusly being unable to go. His mother loved Quidditch and even visited Hogwarts on some occasions to watch him play.

Cedric offered to clean up, but his mother ordered him to go back upstairs to finish his Arithmancy. When he begged her to let him help, she gave him a lecture on the finer points of "the importunacy of school work over menial tasks."

"Cedric, I'm giving you a free pass. Would you like to throw aside my generous offer?"

Cedric walked back upstairs and found Dani perched on his desk, just an inch away from his homework. Cedric hastily untied the two notes on Dani's leg and unrolled the first.

Dear Cedric,  
I would love to join you and Promise in Diagon Alley. I'm free anytime this week, and my parents thought it would be a good idea, considering all the dreadful amount of fear throughout the country after the World Cup. Just send me back a day and a time to meet and I'm set.  
Always  
Sam

Cedric smiled and opened up the second scroll of parchment.

Dearest Pretty Boy,  
You asked Sam? Why am I not surprised? You never cease to amuse me. She even got her parents permission. She must really be falling for you Ced. I mean it.  
Anyways, of course I would love to have our annual Shopping Spree. I mean, it's a tradition. Did you even have to ask? Like Sam, though, I'll leave it up to you when and where we meet, so just tell me that, and I'll beat you there.  
And, while we're on the subject of Sam, you should really date her. I mean it. You two are like, perfect for each other. Goodness knows that she likes you well enough, and to tell yourself you don't like her as well is just ridiculous. I know you better than that, Ced.  
So, in summary: She's falling for you. I'm in. Time? Date Sam.  
Always (Like Sam)  
Promise  
PS Yes. In case you didn't get it, I did open that letter that Sam wrote and I did read it.

"You know," Cedric looked up from the letter at Dani. "You're not supposed to let other people read my post. Not even Promise."

Dani tilted her head at Cedric.

"Dani," He sighed at her and scribbled a quick note asking if they could go following morning. They'd meet in the Leaky Cauldron at noon and spend the afternoon together and be home by five that evening. He tied the notes to Dani and whisked her off, tossing her into the darkness before starting his last two sections of Arithmancy homework.

He worked for several more minutes on finishing his Arithmancy homework. He took his time, as usual, careful to not make mistakes, or if he did, to catch them early. As Dani rapped her nose on his window again, he polished off his last problem and brought her inside, untying the two pieces of parchment tied to each of her legs.

Dear Cedric,  
I'm in. See you there tomorrow.  
Always  
Sam

He smiled as he read the other piece of parchment.

You hear that? She's in! Don't you feel happy I put her next to you at the World Cup? Isn't it exciting?  
See you tomorrow  
Promise

Cedric sighed and looked at the eight large rolls of parchment containing the last of his homework and the four scraps he had from Sam and Promise's letters. He smiled and went downstairs to discuss matters with his mother.

"Going to bed, Cedric?" She asked over the top of her copy of _Witch Weekly_.

"In a minute," Cedric smiled. "But I just came to tell you that I'm going with Promise and Sam to Diagon Alley for Promise and my annual end-of-summer shopping spree."

"That's fine with me, but who's Sam?" Cedric's mother inquired.

"Oh!" Cedric exclaimed, hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Sam's a friend who I got to know really well at the Quidditch World Cup."

"Oh," Cedric's mother smiled with comprehension. "I think your father mentioned her. Alright, well I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Night," Cedric smiled.

"Night Ced," His mother smiled back at him as he headed back upstairs.

Cedric went to his closet and pulled out his automatically magically sealing bag of owl treats and fed Dani several handfuls. She cooed happily.

"You know," he told her. "I really shouldn't be feeding you treats after you let Promise open my post."

Dani looked up at him when she finished her third handful of owl bites.

"Seriously," Cedric smiled. "That girl will be the death of me. I swear it. You know she went around the Quidditch World Cup flinging magic everywhere because she knew she wouldn't get caught. Who knew what else she did, or what else she does for that matter."

Dani paid him no heed, but instead fell back into eating more of the owl treats Cedric supplied her.

"That's ok though," Cedric stroked her head lovingly with his free hand. "You're still a terribly kind and friendly owl."

Dani cooed as she finished the last of the treats.

"Time for your nightly patrol," Cedric chuckled. "I really shouldn't have fed you dessert before you went out on your dinner hour, but you deserved it, moving that fast."

Dani looked up at him confused.

"Never mind," Cedric laughed as he pushed her out the window.

She hooted before hopping out the window in a nosedive for the ground, which she pulled out of at the last second. Cedric's stomach twisted. How he wished he could fly like that. Dani didn't need a broom. Lucky bird.

Cedric waved off the thought. He cleared off his desk, leaving it nice and tidy,exactly how he found it. He capped his bottle of deep blue ink that he used for his Arithmancy homework and set his quill down neatly beside it. He frowned as he realized that his quill's feathers were very frayed and tip was going dull. He uncapped his bottle of ink and pulled out the letter he received from Hogwarts from several weeks before. He wrote at the bottom of the book list the simple words. "New Quills" and "More Ink".

He yawned, fatigue sweeping over him. Lying down on the bed, he stared straight up at the ceiling as his eyelids began to drip heavily over his eyes.

Before he knew it, he awoke to the sun glowing in his eyes through a small slit in the blinds. He blinked several times before whisking the covers over his head and attempting to fall back to sleep. Slowly, he played through his day's plans through his head as he drifted back to the level of true consciousness.

Twelve.

Something about a twelve. He checked his watch. Eleven thirty five. What happened at twelve o'clock? It was twelve o'clock, wasn't it? Not eleven or one?

Promise and Sam! Shopping!

He kicked off the covers of his bed, pulled some clothes frantically out of his closet and turned on the water in his shower. Within fifteen minutes he found himself completely ready to go. He moved quickly downstairs. His mother had left him a note explaining the long-cold toast she had left and how she hoped to see him later at Flourish and Blott's.

He quickly gobbled down his toast as he opened the bag of floo powder his mother kept in the always-empty cookie jar. Checking his watch as he ran up the stairs and back to his room, he grabbed the booklist he had left on top of the stack of textbooks on the corner of his desk. Eleven fifty five.

He skidded to a halt in front of the fireplace and threw the powder into the fire his mother had left going for him so that he didn't have to start it with his own magic. The flames turned green as he pocketed his book list. Carefully, he set the pouch on the mantle next to the fire before stepping into the hearth.

"The Leaky Cauldron!" He shouted.

He whirled quickly around and around and around, spinning quickly as fireplaces whirled around him until he felt himself slowing and braced himself for the imminent fall.

The fireplace tilted slightly, and he stumbled into the dining area of the Leaky Cauldron.

"It's about time you got here," Promise muttered from over the top of her Arithmancy Textbook. "Sam's been waiting for you. Me? Not so much."

Cedric looked at the table in front of him. Sam sat patiently, twiddling her thumbs, whereas Promise had kicked her feet onto the table, giving herself a comfortable position to read her Arithmancy textbook.

"Hello to you too," Cedric waved at the two of them.

"Sweet," Promise cooed, slamming her book shut and kicking her feet off the table.

Sam rolled her eyes and flicked Promise a silver sickle. "So maybe you do know him too well," she sighed.

"Am I missing something?" Cedric raised his eyes, pretty sure he knew exactly what had just happened.

"It's nothing," Sam looked away, embarrassed.

"I just bet her that you would say exactly those words when you stepped out of the fire. Just proves that I hang out with you a little bit too much."

Cedric narrowed his eyes. "Did you hear something, Sam?" He asked, eyes still riveted on Promise, who had stuck her tongue out at Cedric.

Sam smiled at him. "Just the sound of a sickle being thrown down the drain."

Cedric laughed. "You two ready?"

Promise sneered at him. "Yeah."

They walked out to the back of the Leaky Cauldron. Cedric bowed low and allowed Promise to tap the proper brick, turning the brick wall in front of them into a large archway.

"It's my year to do it," Promise grinned as she stepped through.

They wandered slowly down the street for several minutes, looking through every shop window they passed. Cedric made sure to walk behind Sam and Promise, longingly staring at the beautiful hair that gracefully dripped off Sam's shoulders. At the end of the street, they passed through the doors to Gringotts.

"I don't know why," Sam shivered slightly. "But those warning signs always make me really nervous."

"Why?" Promise held back a laugh. "Planning on robbing the place?"

"Only in my spare time," Sam quipped defensively. "It's a work in progress."

"I don't think this is the best place to discuss robbery," Cedric looked around at the numerous goblins walking around the main hall of the bank.

"Why not?" Sam looked at him, feigning confusion.

"Because they might be forced to think that you're serious."

"That's ridiculous," Promise said loudly. "No one would ever dream of robbing this place." Every goblin in the bank stopped and looked at Promise, turning the room from a dull murmuring to dead silence. "I'm kidding?" Promise asked them sarcastically. Without another word, each and every goblin went back to what they were doing before Promise had said she wanted to rob the place. She turned back to Cedric and Sam. "See? They don't take those threats seriously."

They walked up to the line, which, unsurprisingly to Cedric, was devoid of people. Cedric walked to the first available window, girls following closely behind him.

"Keys please," the goblin grunted.

Cedric, Promise, and Sam, each held up theirs. The goblin took them out of their hands quickly.

"Right," the goblin murmured, looking at each of the keys in turn. "Twelve ninety two, fourteen twenty seven, and eleven nineteen. I'm Metalnail. Right this way."

He walked around the counter and opened the door to the familiar long passageway that led to the lower vaults. Metalnail held up his hand, pulling up a four-seat cart, candle light ablaze in the front.

"I think," Promise made quick eye contact with Cedric. "That I'll join our guide in the front seat. You two take the back?"

Cedric turned slightly pale. Couldn't Promise ever slow down?

"Sounds delightful!" Sam exclaimed.

She stepped in as Cedric continued making eye contact with Promise.

"What are you doing?" He mouthed to her.

She merely smiled back. "I'll tell you later," she mouthed back.

Cedric rolled his eyes and stepped into the back seat. The door shut and the cart sped instantly down the track. Cedric smiled as the wind whipped the hair around his head. It felt like flying.

He looked forward at Promise, who leaned over and whispered something into Metalnail's ear. They both turned around and gave very sinister grins to Cedric and Sam just before Cedric found himself pushed even harder into the seat of the cart. It sped up faster and faster, twisting and turning down the numerous miles of track between the top of the bank and their vaults. Their goblin took each turn at such speed now that Cedric managed to fall onto Sam's shoulder with each right turn as Sam fell onto Cedric's at each left.

Why did Promise have to play such cruel games?

The cart screeched to a halt, nearly flipping Cedric out the top of the cart and over Promise's head.

"Vault number Twelve Ninety Two," Metalnail called out as they all stepped out of the car.

"This one's mine," Sam said brightly.

She followed the goblin to the vault door. Cedric and Promise stayed near the cart, not wanting to intrude on Sam's finances. As the goblin opened the door, Cedric whirled on Promise.

"Why'd you go and do that?" He demanded.

"Do what?" Promise asked innocently.

"You told that goblin to go faster!" Cedric exclaimed in his hushed voice.

"Oh, that?" Promise looked as though this were not the prank she expected Cedric to call her on. "I thought it was cute. You should have seen the look on your face."

"What were you just thinking of?" Cedric opened his eyes wider.

"Oh," She gazed at the ground and moved her shoulders slowly. "Nothing."

"Promise?" Cedric gulped. "Anything you want to share?"

"Not in front of," her tone changed again. "Sam!"

Sam looked taken aback as she walked up. "What'd I do? I was only gone for a few minutes."

"We were just waiting for you so we can get moving again," Promise looked at Cedric. "Weren't we Cedric?"

"Yeah," Cedric glared at Promise.

Metalnail looked at them apprehensively before jumping into the cart. Promise smirked at Cedric as Sam stepped into the back of the cart, winking before she stepped into the cart next to Metalnail. Cedric sat down next to Sam and shut the door, sending the cart rocketing towards their next vault. Metalnail looked back and flashed Sam and Cedric a very unpleasant, snaggle-tooth filled grin before making the cart speed up. Cedric forced himself to focus on the wind rustling through his hair and not so much on Sam and how she swayed with the cart and how she, every so often, fell onto Cedric's chest.

The cart screeched to a halt.

"Vault number Fourteen twenty-seven," Metalnail called out.

"This one's mine," Promise smiled at the two of them. "Now, behave you two."

"Goodness, I love that girl," Sam sighed as Promise disappeared into her vault. "I'm just… so lucky to be a part of your group now."

Cedric turned to her. "Group?"

"Yeah," Sam stared at him through glazed eyes. "I always got the feeling like I could never be in this group here. You know?"

"I really don't," Cedric looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Sam smiled in awe. "You're Cedric Diggory. Prefect. House Quidditch Captain. She's Promise Ledger. Prefect. Super intelligent. Practical joker. You two are just so… wow."

"You really thought we would just turn you away?" Cedric raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Sam faltered. "No. But I didn't think you'd welcome me with open arms."

"Sam," Cedric laid his hands on her shoulders. "I'll always be here for you. No matter what. Promise too. She's a practical joker. Probably the biggest one I know, but when she needs to, she knows exactly how to get serious."

"Ahem," Promise coughed from the front seat of the cart.

"Yeah," Metalnail looked at the two. "If you two are going to be longer I could just come by later. I mean, I have things to do."

Sam blushed as she quickly took her seat in the back of the cart. Cedric shut the cart door as it took off for Cedric's final vault. This second to last trip passed quickly as they traveled towards the surface. Before he realized it, Cedric jerked forward and nearly broke his nose on the seat in front of him.

"Vault number eleven nineteen! Last stop!"

Cedric stepped out of the car and followed Metalnail to the vault door leaving Sam alone with Promise. He looked back, unsure if he really wanted o trust them alone.

"Here you are, sir," Metalnail grunted politely.

Cedric looked in on the glinting precious metals in the vault twinkling back at him. His parents set aside every month's pocket money for him while he was at school, making the mass of gold, silver, and bronze in front of him larger each progressive year. Cedric forced out a smile, grateful for the money in front of him that was all his.

He took about twenty-five galleons, sickles, and knuts from the piles and placed them in his pocket. He turned around and walked out of the vault, nodding to Metalnail, who nodded back and shut the vault door. He turned around and looked at Promise and Sam, who appeared deep in conversation. As he approached them, Promise quickened her conversation as she nodded to Sam. They turned quickly, attempting to look innocent.

"Nothing," Promise muttered before Cedric could say anything.

"I'm just not going to ask," Cedric looked at both of them in turn.

Promise scowled, fished into her pocket, and flipped a silver sickle at Sam. She caught it deftly, stared at it fondly for a second, and then placed it in her small coin purse smiling.

"You ready to go?" Sam smiled brightly at Cedric from behind shiny white teeth.

"Cedric," Promise frowned and furrowed her brow. "You were supposed to say, 'Promise, what are you doing?'"

"You're welcome, Sam" Cedric kept his eye contact with Sam as he motioned for Promise to sit down in the car. Promise merely glared at him and sat with her arms crossed for the return journey to the surface.

They stepped out of the car, thanked Metalnail, and walked back out to Diagon Alley.

"Where do you want to go first?" Cedric asked.

"Let's just…" Sam sidled slightly closer to him. "Wander?"

"I'm good with that," Cedric grinned as he looked towards Sam.

Promise rolled her eyes at Cedric from behind Sam. "Let's just go."

They wandered down each side of the street, taking good long looks at each shop. It didn't take much to coax them into entering a shop. They stopped in Florean Fortiscue's Ice Cream Parlor first, agreeing, before they entered, to try a daring flavor. Sam picked out a double scoop of a blue colored frozen ice cream, took her first bite, closed her eyes, and melted.

"Cielo," Sam said dreamily. "I knew this would be a good flavor."

"What does it mean?" Cedric asked before he took a nice, long, wraparound lick of the interesting green flavor he chose, which actually turned out to be a lemon lime sherbert.

"It means sky," Sam explained, melting after her second bite. "Or heaven. Depends on the translation you want. I'm going to go with Heaven. This is," she moaned past the flavor. "Amazing."

"I don't know if it can top this cherry experience I chose," Promise smiled as she licked another bite of hers.

"Cedric," Sam said, inviting him, almost challenging Promise. "Tell me what you think."

Cedric licked a long strip up from the bottom of the cone to the top. He couldn't really describe the flavor, but Sam did have a good point. No words existed that could describe the magical flavor this ice cream conjured in his mouth. Heaven came close. It tasted just so… wow.

Promise rolled her eyes. "Try mine," she offered him, pushing the deep red ice cream into his face.

"Actually," Cedric looked apprehensively at Promise's ice cream. "I don't think I want to. I prefer to turn away from anything that looks like frozen blood."

Sam snorted into her ice cream. Promise glared at him.

"It's good," She looked at him through her deep, puppy dog eyes. "I Promise. No pun intended."

Cedric smiled at her. "Fine." He licked hers in the same manner he licked Sam's. This one did taste like the insane cherry experience Promise advertised so effectively, but it still had nothing on Cielo, which made the cherry taste even blander than he knew it should have tasted.

"Well?" Promise asked him. "What do you think?"

"Cielo was better," Cedric thought out loud.

Promise, humbled, retreated back into her ice cream as they continued their walk down the street. They couldn't enter any shops while they ate, so they took careful notes of where to stop. As they finished their ice cream when they reached the end of the street, they entered the shops they approached.

They walked into the Quidditch store, the first one they came to. They parted ways once inside, agreeing to show the others if they found anything special or exciting. Cedric looked around the aisles. One aisle specialized in selling little brooms for children. Another contained boxes of sets of Quidditch balls. The next one over, invariably, sold the balls in individual boxes. Cedric picked up a box containing a golden snitch, opened it, and pulled out the snitch, holding the tiny, feather light ball in the palm of his hand for a minute before putting back into the box. The heavy bludger boxes, he found, were incredibly heavy for being no larger than the size of a large stone.

The one that intrigued him most, however, was the box containing the Quaffle balls. The bright red balls in their boxes were covered with pictures of flying wizards and witches, all playing a nice game of family Quidditch in the back yard. One box even said "The official practice Quaffle of the Irish National Team: Play like the World Cup champions!" Another one boasted a new, improved magic on it, so that instead of the ball falling straight down as in through water, it would slow down in the air in any direction as though thrown along the ground.

Promise bounded up to him, holding something behind her back. "Guess what I found!" She exclaimed, barely able to contain her joy.

"Ummm," Cedric shifted his eyes. "I give up. What did you find?"

She pulled a book out from behind her back. "It's the end all be all for Quidditch strategy! Every play and tactic ever used in Quidditch. It even has that Wronski Feint Viktor Krum pulled off. See?" She opened the book to the Table of Contents. "It breaks the moves off by position. Then it breaks them into difficulty level and shows exactly how to execute the move. And then it shows you how to counter that move if you need to."

"Wow," Cedric looked at the book with hungry eyes.

"I know!" Promise smiled, shaking with giddiness. "So, are you going to get it?"

"Huh? Nah. I don't need it. It'd be neat to have, but I don't think I need it now."

Promise face dropped slightly, brightened back to life again, and then drooped. "Oh, that's too bad. It's cool though, no?"

"Oh yeah," Cedric smiled. "I love it. It's way cool."

Sam walked up to them. "I was just looking at the brooms. Firebolts are all the rage, and the price isn't going down! In fact, it's gone up! Good thing I still have the Nimbus 2000 my parents bought me in my third year. It's a good broom."

"I'm thinking Cleansweep 7, myself," Promise chimed in. "It's coming out next summer. I think I should have enough saved up to treat myself to one for my final year at Hogwarts."

"Cleansweep 7?" Cedric smiled dreamily. "That'll be a nice broom. I know it. Can't wait to try it out."

"You can have a go on mine, next summer," Promise teased.

They left the Quidditch shop and headed down the alley a little further before they reached Flourish and Blott's.

"What do you need?" Cedric asked them as they walked inside.

"So much," Promise mentioned, looking down her list.

The shopkeeper, whom Cedric recognized as Mr. Blott, walked up.

"You three from Hogwarts?" he asked them. "Oh, Hi Cedric."

"Hello Mr. Blott," Cedric shook his hand happily.

"Anything I can help you with?" Mr. Blott offered.

"Not that I know of. That is to say, I don't need help," Cedric looked at Sam and Promise. "What about you two?"

"I think we're good," Promise looked at Sam who nodded in concurrence.

"Good, good," Mr. Blott turned to Cedric. "You know, Ced, you can just give your book list to your mother and I can get you the books personally."

"That's really ok," Cedric grinned. "Besides, if I did it that way then I wouldn't be here with these two right now."

"Good point," Mr. Blott chuckled and walked towards the main checkout counter. "I'll send your mother out so she can say hello."

"So what do you two need?" Cedric asked them.

"Well," Promise checked her list. "There's the Standard Book of Spells: Grade Six (Grade five for Sam) as they always have. I have _Advanced Arithmancy_, _Advanced Potion Making, Advanced Herbology, Advanced Transfiguration_, and _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_. Did anyone else notice the pattern that our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher broke?"

"Figures," Cedric shrugged. "What about you Sam?"

"Just the Standard Book of Spells," Sam shrugged.

"I have the same list as Promise," Cedric said. "It's a byproduct of having every single class with her. How wonderful."

They smiled at each other and laughed.

Cedric, Sam, and Promise all picked their books off the shelves and (in several trips) and placed them on the checkout counter where Cedric's mom stood.

"Good morning you three," Cedric's mother smiled at the three of them.

"Morning mom," Cedric smiled back. "Mom, this is my friend Samantha Bennett from Hogwarts, she's a fifth year Hufflepuff and a Prefect this upcoming year. Sam, my mom."

"Nice to meet you," Sam shook Cedric's mother's hand very professionally.

"Likewise," Cedric's mother shook Sam's hand back. "So what can I do for you three?"

"We're just going to browse for now, mom," Cedric said. "But it'd be a pain for us to hold onto all of these books. Could you just set them behind the counter while we browse for a few minutes?"

"Of course," Cedric's mother began to put them beneath the counter. "Just come find me when you're done."

"Okay mom," Cedric grinned.

"I like your parents," Sam commented as she walked off with Cedric. After several seconds, Cedric turned around to see Promise talking with his mother. He made a motion to talk to her, but Promise merely motioned him off.

"What are they talking about do you think?" Sam asked him.

"I'm not quite sure," Cedric shrugged. "But let's go. I'll probably find out soon enough."

They began to walk through the numerous stacks of books throughout the store. Every so often, one of them would find a book and pick it off the shelf and read the back page summary, or an excerpt of smaller books, each time in a different funny accent to accentuate the ridiculousness of how some writers wrote.

After several minutes, Promise walked up to Cedric, looking very frazzled, but very content, as though a great weight had been lifted from her chest.

"That was fun," Promise muttered sarcastically.

"What did you talk to my mom about?" Cedric asked, intrigued.

"Just something I wanted settled. Not a big deal."

Cedric eyed her, as though probing into the inner depths of her thoughts. "If you say so," he responded. "It's fine with me."

They continued probing the many columns of books. After several minutes, they found themselves in front of the dark omen section. Unable to resist, all three of them pulled out a book and began to read excerpts from each one between their roars of quieted laughter.

About an hour later, they left Flourish and Blott's, books in the heavy duty bags Mrs. Diggory placed them in.

"I still can't get over the fact that your mother works at Flourish and Blott's," Sam sighed. "That'd be such a neat job."

"You meet a lot of funny people in book stores apparently," Cedric laughed. He checked his watch. They were actually almost out of time. "How did that happen?" He asked, making a reference to the time as he showed Promise his watch.

"I guess that's just how it goes," Promise shrugged. "But we'll always have Hogsmeade weekends."

They all sighed.

"I love Hogsmeade," Sam sighed again.

"Who doesn't?" Cedric inquired dreamily.

"I don- wait. Yes I do," Promise giggled.

"We have enough time for one more drink at the Leaky Cauldron," Cedric noted as they turned and headed back to the bar.

They all sat at the tables and ordered three butterbeers. They conversed about the finer points of the teachers at Hogwarts and poked fun at all of the quirky things the teachers did, especially when it came to Professor Binns. Cedric patted Sam on the shoulder when they remembered Sam still had to take the class for her fifth year before she could test out of the N.E.W.T. level.

Before they knew it, they all needed to be home. Sam hugged Promise and Cedric before she took some floo powder from the pouch in her coin purse and tossed it into the fire. She shouted her address and disappeared in a flash of green.

"I'll see you soon," Promise said, smiling, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah, one week," Cedric smiled.

"Yeah," Promise looked at him as though she knew she wouldn't, nodding unsurely. "Something like that."

She pulled out the bag of floo powder she had and tossed some of the contents into the fire.

"Oh!" Cedric called out before she stepped into the fire. "I need some myself!"

Promise walked over and sprinkled some in his hand. "I'll see you in a week… or something." With another flash of green she disappeared.

Cedric sighed and walked to the fireplace, tossed in the fire, and stepped into the flames. "The Diggory house," he shouted.

With a whirl of colors, the Leaky Cauldron disappeared just as it had appeared all those hours ago.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Cedric Diggory or any of the other things that occur canonically in this story. Yet, I will confess that I do own Promise and Sam and (new character!) Olivia!

**Chapter 6  
Hallway Patrol**

Something nudged Cedric towards a tune. His foot began to jiggle in time to the music, and he felt humming escape his overpowered lips.

The throb of the instruments pulsed around him, bringing up lights slowly on a black background, more and more light until there they stood: The Weird Sisters. On a stage, in concert. To Cedric's left stood Promise, who seemed to indicate something behind him. Interest peeked, he turned around to face… Sam. Sam standing there, smiling, blushing slightly, her flowing deep periwinkle dress robes dripping over her body like cool water falling gracefully over a cliff edge and into a waterfall.

Cedric looked down at his figure and the deep green dress robes he had picked out to match her eyes. He would dance with her. He wouldn't ever stop, not for anything. The blackness around him came into focus, bringing to life a grandiose ballroom, lined with people four deep on the walls, all looking at them proudly. His dress shoes clicked along the marble floor in time with hers as he put his arm on the small of her back, escorting her to the center of the ballroom floor.

They stopped in unison, as Cedric moved his hand slightly along her hip, placing it there, almost uncomfortably. Her hand trailed up his arm and slid gracefully to rest on his shoulder. She looked into his eyes as they brought their other hand together and held them there, palms and fingers aligned, before sliding gently into a slight clasp.

"You ready?" Cedric asked.

"Do you have to ask?" Sam replied.

Cedric led her to the left first, waltzing in time with her as the people looked on. He couldn't take his eyes off her. She seemed to be there completely, so beautiful, so perfect, so whole. He would have kissed her. He really would have, but the thought of kissing something so pure… Something he wanted so much…

"You can, you know," Sam smiled, shrugging her shoulders, never taking her eyes off of his. She moved her hand that had clasped his around and to his shoulder. He took his free hand and placed it on her hip. They met their gaze for an eternity, then, slowly, ever so slowly, he moved in. His nose met hers. Eyes closed.

"I love you," He whispered, so softly he feared she would not hear it.

"I love you too," Came the graceful breath of life emanating from her lips.

He pulled her in closer, and she didn't resist. Their lips met, but they stayed there for several seconds, neither kissing the other. They had waited so long. They had wanted it to count. They had wanted it to last.

At long last, their lips kissed. They felt it. The brilliant warmth they had waited for for so long. Sunlight streamed in and his skin turned warm, but he knew that it wasn't because of the sun. He kept his lips locked in their kiss. They didn't let go. They kept on kissing, like they could forever and ever and ever…

At long last, he pulled back, eyes still closed. "Wow," he whispered.

"Are you done yet?" Promise asked.

"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked, not opening his eyes.

"I mean, are you done with the suck face session you and Sam are having in that fantasy land dream of yours?" Promise said, annoyed.

"Can't I dream in peace?" Cedric asked. "How'd you get in here anyways?"

"Are you kidding? I walked in," Promise shrugged, turning up the Weird Sisters on her Wizarding Wireless.

"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked, still not opening his eyes. "We've been at school for a long time. Days I'm sure. Haven't we?"

"Well, yes," Promise reflected, rubbing her chin, unbeknownst to him. "Wait, who am I kidding? No. We're not at school. We have another few days before we get there."

"Then where are we?" Cedric asked, rubbing his eyes vigorously before opening them.

"You tell me," Promise shrugged. "It's your house."

Cedric froze. "What do you mean?"

"It's your house. I have no idea where the heck it is. It's not like I have a floo network map. Actually, yes I do, but that's not the point. The point is I have no idea where 'here' actually is except that we are in your house, which is a place I never thought I'd be. So, you tell me."

"How did you get here?" Cedric asked, still afraid to open his eyes.

"Floo Powder," Promise yawned. "Had to wake up especially early to do it too."

"And why are you here?" Cedric asked again, tentatively opening one eye, only to find it blocked by his own hand, which he still refused to move.

"That's a very good question," Promise turned up the Wizarding Wireless again, continuing the song that had brought about Cedric's reverie.

"Seriously, Promise," Cedric cracked open the fingers blocking his eyes a tiny bit, but still not quite enough to see the room. "What are you doing here? We went shopping yesterday. You left the Leaky Cauldron before me. I watched you go home."

"And what a glorious day that was," Promise sighed. "I will actually have you know that's the reason I'm here. I wouldn't be here today if we hadn't shopped yesterday."

"Please don't tell me that you stole something," Cedric begged.

"Ok," Promise added. "I won't tell you."

Cedric snapped the hand off his face, glaring at Promise and her tied back hair.

"I'm kidding," she gave him a very unimpressed smile, as though he should have known her better than that. "But at least I got you awake. You've been asleep until now, and now is the time that you have to wake up."

"Why are you here?" Cedric asked.

"I'm sorry," Promise said feigning offense. "Did I do something wrong? I could leave. It's not like I spent all night packing and woke up especially early so that I could floo powder my way over here especially for you. Actually," She paused and looked upwards. "No, that's exactly what I did. Don't mind me. I'm just rambling."

"I'm not complaining," Cedric huffed. "I just think it's weird seeing you here of all places, and now of all times. Don't you have better places to be?"

"Actually," Promise scratched her chin again. "If I didn't like you so much I probably wouldn't be here right now. If your mother didn't work in Flourish and Blott's I probably wouldn't be here either. That, and other things…" her voice trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Cedric reflected back to Promise talking with his mother the previous day.

"I'm with you here for the rest of the summer," Promise shrugged. "I couldn't stand my house at all. It annoyed me to no end. I asked your mother yesterday if I could come and live with you here for the remaining week of summer."

"That is so cool," Cedric kicked off his covers and gave Promise a big hug.

"You won't think so in a few days," Promise hugged him back. "You'll be begging to spend more time with Sam. Oh wait, that's every minute of every day isn't it?"

Cedric sneered at her. "How did you get out of your parents' house anyways?"

"I walked out," Promise shrugged. "But can we talk about this later? It's just too fresh right now for me to talk about just yet."

So they didn't.

The next few days flew past quickly. They tested each other in their subjects and discussed Sam among other things, but spent most of the time, however, reading the different novels Cedric's mother managed to procure from Flourish and Blott's. Every month at Hogwarts, Cedric received a box of books from Flourish and Blott's. Most of them he read when he actually managed to finish his homework and the ones he knew he wouldn't get to, particularly the ones that didn't interest him, he gave away. To make things even better, because Cedric's father brought in enough to support their family, Cedric's mother could spend most of her paycheck on extra books and things for the house.

The book his mother happened to pick up this week (she received them on a weekly basis but sent them once a month to save their owl from an untimely death) was a book entitled _Zephram's Muggle Transformation_ by Jeanine Gildenheim. It centered on a boy name Zephram who traveled into the Muggle world to live for as long as he could without the use of magic. Cedric's mother told him that Gildenheim had actually lived that way until the ripe age of thirty and returned to the wizarding world to show just how "the other half" lived.

Cedric's mother gave Promise a novel entitled _Peculiarities, Personalities, and Pectorals._ Cedric attempted on numerous occasions to ask Promise what the seven hundred page book could possibly be about, but she merely told him it was a "girly novel that even pretty boys wouldn't like."

At long last, the rain dragged about a new gloom in Cedric on the day the Hogwarts Express pulled out of King's Cross station. This year, Cedric and Promise were actually allowed to travel to the train by themselves, much to Cedric's mother's dismay.

"I couldn't get time off work," she told them. "And you're father's been called in early as with all the mayhem at the ministry recently. I wish I could take you though."

"Saying goodbye from here is no different from there, mom," Cedric attempted to comfort her. "The only difference is you'll be waving goodbye to us as you apparate out and not as we round the corner out of King's Cross."

"I suppose you're right," Cedric's mother looked gloomy like the weather. "But I still think that I should come."

"And I never said you shouldn't," Cedric urged as Promise bounced her trunk down the stairs creating a very loud banging and clattering as it hit each step with a crash. "It's really not a necessity, mom. It's nice if you're there, but not necessary."

"Trust me Mrs. Diggory," Promise soothing her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be just fine."

"Promise," Mrs. Diggory smiled at her, as a mother smiles upon a daughter to whom she is imparting wisdom. "When you're a mother, know that you'll worry incessantly over your children, even though there is no rational explanation for why the worry is there."

"Perhaps," Promise dropped her trunk and pulled Mrs. Diggory into a tight embrace. "Thank you for everything. It means a whole lot."

"Any time, dear," Cedric's mother patted Promise on the back. "I just wish Amos was here. It's such a terrible ordeal. I know he would've so wanted to see you off."

"Mom," Cedric urged. "Much as I don't want to see you leave," Cedric's mother gave him an evil glare. "And I don't," he added pointedly. "You're going to be late for work. We need to leave within the next twenty minutes, but you don't have that kinda time."

"I know," Cedric's mother glanced at her watch frantically. "But it's so difficult to say good bye."

"It's never good bye mom," Cedric hugged her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "It's always until next time."

"Then until next time," Cedric's mother smiled weakly. "Have a good time at school! Write often. You too, Promise dear! You're really family now."

"Wait," Promise rolled her eyes. "Does that mean this pushover's my brother?"

"Pushover?" Cedric asked.

"See what I mean?"

Cedric's mother laughed. "He's whatever you want him to be. I'll see you over Winter Holiday," She paused. "Actually, you'll probably want to stay over the holiday."

"Why?" Cedric exchanged glances with Promise.

"You'll find out," Cedric's mother smiled. "Don't forget the sandwiches I made you! Until next time!" And with a slight pop, she vanished.

"I love your mother," Promise sighed.

"Don't we all?" Cedric looked at the spot she vanished from.

"Yeah. You ready?"

"Waiting on youm, slowpoke."

"Ok," Promise looked at him and smiled. "When I say I need five minutes, it means I need five minutes, not five minutes after the next time you ask me."

"So… do you need five minutes?"

Promise punched his arm playfully. "After you."

Cedric nodded and walked over to the cookie jar and pulled out the last two remaining handfuls of floo powder they had. He grabbed the two sandwiches from the counter before he returned to the fire.

"How do we light the fire?" Cedric asked, the thought occurring to him as Promise stared at the empty fire pit.

"Hm- what?" Promise stared back at him questioningly.

"Fire?" Cedric said very slowly, putting the sandwiches in their respective trunks. "Big hot thing that's really bright and makes pretty, indefinable shapes."

"Glad you asked that," Promise responded. "I actually," She unlatched her trunk. "Just happen to keep a spare jar in my trunk. Responds to air, actually."

"And what if it pops open?" Cedric asked, rather frightened of the empty jar she held in her hands.

"It won't. It's a magic quick fix I found last year at Hogsmeade. You remember? It was that one you couldn't go to because you had a Quidditch practice? I bought four and they've lasted me until now. This is the last one, so I just need to buy more next time we are in Hogsmeade. Be careful though, it happens really fast."

Promise unfastened the tight latch, keeping the jar closed. She pointed it at the fireplace and opened the jar, sending a small, fast line of swirling fire towards the fireplace and igniting the logs in the center.

"I need one of those," Cedric smiled, possibilities flying through his mind.

"No you don't," Promise rolled her eyes and threw out the now empty jar. "You're a wizard, remember? You can conjure up fire at any time. This thing's just nice for when I can't do magic."

"I thought you always did magic."

"No, that was at the Quidditch World Cup where I couldn't get caught," Promise pulled the first of the two handfuls of floo powder from Cedric's bag. "When I'm here, the Ministry can figure out exactly if I'm using magic. Can't you keep tabs on me at all?"

"Haven't we already had this conversation?"

Promise squealed as she loaded her trunk into the fireplace. "You do care!" She jumped in and turned around. "King's Cross Station!"

She disappeared. Cedric sighed and laughed freely at the humor Promise laced with every word. He threw his powder into the fire, crumpled the bag and tossed it on the kitchen table. He moved his trunk and Dani's cage into the fire before shouting "King's Cross Station!"

Within a few seconds, Cedric fell out of the fireplace in King's Cross station, aided by an aid, who took Cedric's trunk and cage out, dusting them off. "Morning," The attendant beamed at Cedric and a curious Promise. "You two arrived early."

"What can we say?" Promise shrugged, dusting the ask off her shoulders. "I like to make sure he's never late. It's a gift."

The man laughed and walked over to open the door, leading out to the main station of King's Cross. Cedric led the way down the remaining three platforms left in their trip to reach platforms nine and ten. Promise and Cedric glanced both ways before casually leaning into the barrier and falling through it and onto the empty Platform Nine and Three quarters.

Cedric looked around at the mostly empty platform. He enjoyed the silence this early before the train departed. His eyes eventually fell on Promise, who gazed longingly at the train.

"That large red train that I only see a few times a year brings either extreme excitement, or extreme depression. It's funny how things can do that."

"Which one is it this time?" Cedric asked.

"Are you stupid?" Promise laughed as she hugged him.

"How long until we leave?" Cedric asked, pinning his Prefect badge to his chest.

"Can't you just revel in the big red choo-choo train? And if you can't revel then let me revel. Go get a watch."

"I have a watch…"

"Then why don't you check it?"

"Cuz I like ticking you off."

Promise snarled at him. She picked up her trunk and moved towards the train. Cedric looked at his watch. Twenty minutes until the train pulled out of the station. That left more than enough time for them to find a compartment, stow their stuff, and get dressed to set the role model for the rest of the students.

Cedric followed Promise to the relatively deserted train, where they found an unoccupied compartment and set their bags in it. They pulled out a set of robes, shut the blinds, and took turns keeping watch at the door while the other changed. When they had finished, they headed down the hall and walked into the Prefect car, which was already occupied by four people.

Two stood near the front, conversing rapidly in low undertones, but the two girls closest to the door were deep in conversation even after Cedric and Promise's entrance. It was only after a quick cough from Promise that the two turned their focus and heads to Promise and Cedric.

"Cedric!" Sam cried as she stood up and gave Cedric a large hug. "And Promise! How's life? I love it, myself! We're going back to Hogwarts! What could be better? My parents carpooled with my friend Olivia here. I believe you've met her before."

"I know Cedric has," Promise smiled. Cedric dreaded what Promise would say next based purely on her facial expression. "Unless he doesn't care about fellow Hufflepuff Quidditch players."

"Thanks Promise," Cedric closed his eyes and pursed his lips. "I needed that. I am so humbled from that display of truth. Olivia Histing, will you ever forgive me?"

"I'll try," smiled the short cut, blonde haired Olivia, standing up. "I was just discussing your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup with Sam here."

Promise smiled. "That was really fun. Did you go?"

"Yes, but I had horrible seats."

"How horrible?" Promise asked.

"Ireland goal posts. About four rows up."

Sam, Cedric, and Promise all flinched slightly.

"Honey," Promise smiled at her. "You should've talked to me. My dad works in the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

"I didn't know you," Olivia shrugged. "Besides, you think I'd actually talk to _the _Promise Ledger? Are you kidding? I'm not as secure as Sam here."

"You know," Promise turned to Cedric. "If I didn't know any better I'd think that we were complete demigods."

"Just don't let it go to your head," Cedric said, as though it were the hundredth time he'd said it. "Do you two have a compartment?"

"Not really," Sam shrugged. "I just set my stuff down here because I'll be sitting here. Olivia won't be able to, though."

"Only one of the fifth year Hufflepuff girls could make Prefect," Olivia shrugged. "Looks like I got outdone by Sam again."

"You can still fly circles around me," Sam looked at her, jealous.

"We have a compartment about a car down the way," Promise added. "We can take you there and show you where we'll hang out after hall monitor duty. You can't honestly think we'd like to be stuck in a room with all these brown-nosing suck ups for a whole day, can you?. Cedric is more than enough of a brown-nosing suck up for anyone."

"Oh," Olivia's face dropped. "Does that mean I'll be sitting there for what could be hours by myself?"

"We'll stop in often," Cedric grinned weakly. "Promise."

"Huh?" Promise asked, trying to make them believe she didn't acknowledge anything except for her name's reiteration.

"That's starting to get old," Sam looked at her.

"Only if you think it is," Promise smiled. "And Olivia, I have this book you can read. It's really funny."

"Really? What's it called?"

"_Peculiarities, Personalities, and Pectorals_," Promise replied.

"Oh my goodness!" Sam exclaimed as she picked up her trunk. "_Wizardess_ magazine gave that book a really fantastic review. Is it any good?"

"I laughed, but I told Cedric he wouldn't like it," Promise chuckled.

"I heard they sold out of it everywhere," Olivia picked up her suitcase as Cedric led the way down the train. "But I also heard it was good. I'm not sure if I'd like it, though. I heard it was really girly."

"It is," Promise stated. "And I'm not one for girly books, but my goodness hilarious."

"How'd you get it?" Sam asked following them while carrying her bag, still amazed that Promise managed to obtain the best-selling novel.

"Cedric's mom," Promise smiled.

"Oh, right," Sam nodded as they reached the compartment.

"How?" Olivia sidled through the door and placed her trunk on the luggage rack with Cedric's help.

"My mom works at Flourish and Blott's," Cedric explained. "But right now we need to just hang out here until we leave. Most of the people should be coming in now."

He pulled up the blinds, revealing the mass of students who conversed and socialized outside the train as though just appearing for the first time.

"This place always fills up so fast," Promise sighed.

"Which means we'll need to get seats in the Prefect car soon," Cedric chimed in.

"It fills up fast?" Sam inquired.

"You think it's bad out here?" Promise scoffed. "Most people here don't care where they sit on the train. Prefects are the worst."

"You're a Prefect," Sam looked at her, confused.

"I know," Promise said, beginning to walk down the length of the car.

"I guess I'll just stay here then?" Olivia asked.

"Of course," Promise smiled encouragingly. "And it's only for the first hour or so. One of us will be back as soon as we possibly can. Read the book," she winked at Olivia.

"I'll do my best," Olivia threw up a fake salute as the three left the compartment.

"I feel kind of guilty leaving her there," Sam looked back wistfully as she sidled past a small group of timid first years moving in a daze through the narrow corridor.

"She'll be fine," Promise waved her off.

"I know," Sam replied. "But she'll be bored. I know she will."

"We all get bored," Cedric smiled. "It's how life works." He pushed the door open upon the now nearly full prefect car. "It's really funny how five minutes changes the status quo of everything."

"Isn't it though?" Promise asked. "Let's take these seats."

"I wasn't talking about the seats," Cedric's voice trailed off.

"Huh?" Sam asked.

"I've never really talked to Olivia outside of the Quidditch setting," Cedric said to Sam. "Now there's you and it changes everything."

"I'm sure that's not the only thing you love about her being here," Promise murmured softly in his ear.

They chose an entire row for their seats. Promise, as though once again she had planned it, seemed to make sure it was located towards the back. The three sat quietly, bored, and felt the lurch of the train after several minutes. People continued to talk until the new Head Boy, seventh year Ravenclaw Calvin Parker attempted to call order. It was only with the help of the very attractive seventh year Gryffindor Kaylee Walton that the Prefect car finally calmed to order.

"Now," Parker began. "I know how much you don't want to be here. Goodness knows I didn't want to when I was a Prefect, but the heads of houses and schools say we have to, so we have to. Basically, it's the same routine as always: get passwords and review any new school rules. Yeah, most of the rules stay the same, but with the advent of the Ministry's special event we will be adding a few newer ones."

A murmur flooded through the car. Promise, Cedric, and Sam all exchanged concerned glances. Cedric vaguely remembered his mother mentioning a special occasion that would make them not want to take holiday over Christmas, but he couldn't imagine what it could be. His curiosity peaked; he decided to listen intently at their news in an effort to see if they would reveal any news on this special event.

"So let's get down to business. I want all houses to divide into groups and decide on a new password for your houses. Report back to me and we can then have you sign up for the patrol schedule. Remember, you will be paired with the Prefect of the same house and year for your patrol."

The Prefects all began to stand up and several even made a mad dash towards the sign up schedule in Parker's hands.

"Ok," Kaylee Walton stood between the Prefects and Calvin Parker. "You heard the man, you need to design a house password before sign ups."

A mutual grumbling passed through the train. Cedric, Promise, Sam, and the other fellow Hufflepuff Prefects had already begun their choice of password. After several minutes, they agreed on the word Fruit-bat, wrote it down, and handed it to the Head Boy and Girl.

"Fruit bat?" Kaylee murmured. "I like it."

"We wanted to make it Pectorals," Promise glared at Cedric and the other Prefect boys. "But some of us wouldn't stand for that."

Kaylee squealed. "You read that book?"

"Did I?" Promise smiled. "It was so good!"

"I know!" Kaylee shrieked in delight.

"I really wanna read this book now," Cedric whispered to Sam as Kaylee presented the Prefects with the sign up sheet for patrol duty. Naturally, the seventh year Hufflepuffs had first choice, so they chose the first shift. Promise and Cedric chose second shift, and Sam chose the third shift with her male partner Prefect, Marcus Traston.

"Why does everyone choose the first shift available?" Parker asked, full well knowing the answer.

"Because after the summer holiday we all want to see our friends and spend as much time with them as possible?" Promise yawned as though it made so much sense it really wasn't worth much of her time.

Promise, Sam, and Cedric all went back to their seats.

"So what do you want to do between now and then?" Cedric asked as the two older Hufflepuff Prefects left the room.

"We could always have a parchment war," Promise smiled maliciously.

"What's that?" Sam smiled from across the aisle.

"Well," Promise pulled out her wand. "Now that we have the use of magic again, we can use it however we see fit," She pulled an extra few scraps of parchment from her robes and handed them to Sam and Cedric. "The object is simple. Make a creature out of your parchment and then we have them fight. Last parchment standing (literally) wins."

"Sounds easy enough," Sam muttered.

"Easier said than done," Cedric smiled. "You need to make an efficient design with your wand, and then maintain it while you attempt to use it to shred your opponents to pieces."

"Let's just do it," Promise smiled. "I have a few more scraps so we can have a few games. Good thing they take a long time."

Cedric pulled out his wand and began to poke and prod it on invisible strings as his creation began to take shape. He added several folds and curves in the central body to attempt to keep Sam and Promise from slashing his creatures' undersides. He gave it long, pointy legs, a small torso, and very little in terms of a head. He added arms to it and stood it upright, waiting for Promise and Sam.

Promise created a small, vicious looking bird with a large scorpion like tail. Sam, on the other hand, created a small domed creature with spikes on what Cedric called its shell and on the arms. Each set their creatures up to face against the others. With a word from Promise, the First Parchment War began.

Cedric's fared fairly well, its long, lanky figure allowing it a great deal of movement and agility. Eventually, however, Promise talked Sam into teaming up against Cedric, and within twenty seconds of the agreement, Cedric's parchment figurine lay battered and shredded in shards on his lap.

"You two are so mean," Cedric pouted.

"All's fair in love and war, love," Promise let her tongue dart out of her mouth and onto her lips, her wand flicking slightly, moving her small piece of parchment to attack Sam's. "I'll give you a free shot next time."

Several more minutes of dueling left Promise the victor. She forced her puppet to perform a soaring, stinging victory dance. She whooped, and perhaps would have begun a primitive tribal war chant were it not for Cedric's wand "accidentally" shooting out gold sparks and igniting Promise's parchment into an instant flash of ashes that burned so quickly Promise couldn't even put out the small fire before it had extinguished itself.

They played again, Sam and Promise continuing to team up against Cedric and his precious pieces. Each time, Cedric's creations were very human and structured. Sam created animals that seemed defensive in nature, while Promise, as always, created fearsome offensive based fighters. One time, she even made a dragon. Cedric decided to focus all of his attention on the dragon, teaming up with Sam, who felt threatened by Promise's blatant disregard for the unspoken "no dragons" rule. He used Sam as a decoy as he maneuvered his character into slashing the dragon's tail off.

Promise, as always, incapable of focusing on two targets at once, immediately turned her dragon around and used it to bite Cedric's leprechaun's head off. Cedric still smiled. His creature could function without a head, but could Promise's function without a tail? Within seconds, it fell to the ground and instantly became shreds of parchment in the hands of Cedric's leprechaun and the claws of Sam's armor plated gecko.

In the absence of another target, Cedric began to fight against Sam's gecko. Cedric noticed that while Sam's target initially seemed very small and feeble, the conservation of parchment for the legs and the amassing of it onto the top kept it completely shielded. It was only when Cedric's leprechaun lost an arm in the process of flipping the gecko did he realize its weakness. The leprechaun took its sharp, pointed hands and prepared to make a very deliberate, finishing move into the gecko's soft, single-layered underbelly.

Purple sparks shot out of Promise's wand, igniting Cedric's leprechaun on fire.

"Hey!" Cedric scowled at Promise before turning back to the ashes of his scorched parchment and his should-have-been victory.

"What'd I do this time?" Promise asked innocently.

"You messed up my finishing move! I was about to win!"

"I didn't mess it up. You took too long."

"I was relishing in my victory."

"Maybe you should relish less."

"Maybe it's your shift," Sam pointed at the door where the two Hufflepuff seventh year prefects who had just entered the room flagged down Promise and Cedric.

"She owes me a game," Cedric clenched his teeth as he put his wand in his robe pocket and stood up.

Promise rolled her eyes and put her own wand into her pocket and stood up. "Just because you can never win at our parchment wars…"

Cedric merely glared at her and left the prefect car. He began to trek the halls with Promise slowly, trekking it in silence, simply content to have each other as company.

Several people poked their head out of their compartments. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker, stuck her head out and called out to Cedric, waving very flirtatiously.

After about half the shift, Cedric decided to break the silence. "Can I ask you a question that's been bugging me for a while?"

"Absolutely."

"It's rather personal, though." Cedric felt second thoughts that usually accompanied personal questions creep into his mind.

"Cedric," Promise stopped and looked into his eyes. "You're like my brother. There's nothing I would never tell you. I trust you more than you can possibly know. There will never be any secrets between us. I, Promise, promise."

Cedric and Promise looked at each other feigning seriousness, neither attempting to breathe. Then, in unison, they burst into peels of laughter.

"I love you Promise," Cedric laughed, leaning over, holding his stomach.

"I love you too, Ced." Promise attempted to catch her breath. "What is it you want to know?"

"Don't judge me on this one, but," Cedric looked at her, still partially out of breath. "Why'd you come to my house this past week?"

Promise frowned. "I'm not sure if I want to discuss that yet."

"I understand," Cedric interrupted, trying to end the silence before the conversation turned awkward.

"But it's something I need to talk about to somebody," Promise sighed. "And, in all honesty, I don't think there's anyone but you I can talk about it to."

"Promise," Cedric followed her slow pace down the train hallway. "What happened?"

"It's my parents," Promise said, stopping, as thought coming to a realization.

"What about them?"

Promise took a deep breath. "I think they don't care about me."

"What do you mean? They always seem to be there."

"Well, they're there, Ced," Promise continued. "But there's a big difference between being there and actually being there. My parents took me to the World Cup, true enough, but as far as I could remember that's the only thing they've ever done for me, besides give me money I need."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked, befuddled.

"Can you count the number of times that your parents have been there for you?"

Cedric thought about it for a second "No."

"I can," Promise murmured. "I've been on my own for as long as I can remember. I can think of a grand total of once that my parents have been there for me, and that trip to the Quidditch World Cup was it. They said it was for all of the birthdays they said they missed. And when I didn't even sit near them, they didn't even notice, much less care."

"When you say birthdays, you mean to say…"

"All sixteen, I'm pretty sure."

"So why come to my house?"

"Because I had nowhere else to go," Promise shrugged. "I don't know what happened, but when I got back to my parents' house at the beginning of summer I realized how much they weren't there. They're so wrapped up in their own little world that they literally don't have time for me, or they don't care. I'm more inclined to believe the latter."

Cedric grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a tight squeeze, the fabric of the robes on his chest growing damp from Promise's tears. They stood there for a very long time, Promise simply holding onto him, and Cedric wanting to never let go as she kept sobbing the same four words into his ears.

"My parents don't care," she sobbed into his chest.

Every time made his heart shatter. She couldn't take it any more. She wanted out. She needed the love that was so freely given to her at Hogwarts. She didn't recognize the truth that stood before her for the first sixteen years of her life.

"My parents don't care."

At last, she realized it and her world came crumbling down. It explained so much, though. She could go anywhere during the summer at any time. She left her house a week ago and didn't tell her parents. Why would she?

"My parents don't care."

She sobbed into his chest for what felt like a lifetime, the torrent of pent up feelings waving over, and forcing Cedric to shed silent tears with her. She didn't deserve this. No one deserved this. How did she manage to go on, knowing that her parents were there but never even cared about her?

"My parents don't care."

That's why when she called him her brother. That's exactly what he really was. A brother. Cedric's family was the closest thing she had to a family. Cedric's relationship with Promise flashed back through his mind. It made sense, though. She really was a docile person back then. This covering that she built up to become the Promise Ledger Cedric knew and loved came as a direct result of her parents.

"My parents don't care."

Cedric pulled her away from his chest and cupped her hands in his palms. He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that continued to slide down her face.

"I care," He whispered. "And I always will."

She chuckled feebly. "Thanks. I just really needed that," She wiped the tears from her eyes with her forearm. "Wow," She smiled. "Look at me. I'm such a wreck. Look at this lame excuse you have for a friend."

"Yeah," Cedric smiled at her. "But you're my lame excuse for a friend."

They laughed softly and resumed their patrol down the hallway for the rest of their time. After they finished, they went back to the prefect car and started Sam on her first patrol duty. Still smiling, they went back to their compartment and opened the door to peels of Olivia's laughter.

Cedric looked at her. "What are you doing?"

"Oh my goodness!" Olivia gasped for air, standing up and wiping the lint off of her robes. "This book is so funny Promise! Oh my goodness. I don't think I've stopped laughing since I picked it up."

"What part are you at?" Promise picked up the book.

"I think Thomas just started recanting his feelings to her," Olivia began to laugh uncontrollably again. "That book is the coolest book I've ever read."

"Isn't it though?" Promise picked it up and began to read the song, chuckling slightly. "I love the fire whiskey. Actually. That's a lie. I love you just as much as I love fire whiskey. No. That isn't right. I love fire whiskey less than I love you. Yeah. That's it. Don't get me wrong though. I really love fire whiskey. I mean you! Smack! Oh! What was that for? I didn't do anything wrong!"

Promise rolled into the peels of laughter as Olivia began her fit again.

"Wait," Cedric interrupted them and picked up the book. "I really don't get it."

"And that's part of what makes it so darn funny!" Promise gasped between laughs.

The next hour or so was spent full of roars of laughter from Olivia as she continued reading the book, stopping at what seemed every page to continue laughing. Then, Promise would pick up the book, read it, and join her in her loud chorus. Cedric looked up at Dani about halfway through the laughing spree only to see her hooting in time with the girls.

"Honestly," Cedric rolled his eyes. "I don't even know whose side you're on anymore."

When Sam came in several minutes later, they started the book over, reading silently, careful to exclude Cedric from the circle.

"Cedric," Promise warned, still chuckling. "Trust me, you don't want to read this book."

"And why the heck not?"

"Because it's too darn funny!" Promise read the page again and burst out, resolving at last to put the book down. Sam and Olivia followed suit several minutes later as the trolley passed by. Promise, being Promise, ordered the usual bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Promise pulled out several more scraps of paper for another round of Parchment Wars as Cedric asked Sam about her first patrol duty.

"It was dull," Sam shrugged. "I expected more."

"Don't we all?" Promise asked. "The real patrols happen after one, and that's why you want a nice, early shift. It means you don't have to injure the stir-crazy first years."

"What is our password?" Olivia asked, curious.

"Fruit-bat," Promise attempted to say it with a straight face to Sam and Olivia. All three maintained eye contact, but after several seconds burst into another fit of hysterics, forcing Cedric to once again roll his eyes.

They continued conversing during the parchment character construction sessions, Cedric getting into a heated argument with Olivia on whether the Montrose Magpies were better than the Ballycastle Bats.

Before too long, they received word of the Hogwarts Express arriving in Hogsmeade. Promise sighed heavily, reflecting on the fact that she had no more scraps of parchment after the war they just finished.

They all prepared to disembark.

"Look at that rain!" Sam exclaimed as they looked out at the rain lashed windows.

"Poor, poor first years," Promise sighed. "Maybe that will teach them to not be so annoying."

"Why do you hate first years so much?" Olivia asked.

Promise shrugged. "They have no sense of authority or respect for the upper classmen, save several precious gems and exceptions."

"And you're saying you were a good, sweet, innocent, subordinate first year?" Sam arched her eyebrows.

"Of course. Is it so hard to believe?"

Cedric checked his pocket for his wand and attempted to not scoff at her blatant lie. Promise led the way into the throng of students attempting to jump off the train and into another year of school, Sam, Cedric, and Olivia in tow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry or Cedric, much as I might think I do. That also means I don't really own exactly how this chapter plays out… That's kinda depressing, but then I remember Promise is amazing and I sigh and say "Ha ha… Best. Character. Ever."

**Chapter 7  
Sortings and Schedules**

Cedric stepped out onto the main platform, rain lashing his hair and face, cold wind and occasional crack of thunder drowning out Hagrid's call for the first years.

"Firs' Years! Firs' years!" He called, beckoning the first years to the end of the platform and out to the rainy path that led to the lake crossing boats, still attempting to keep warm even through the whipping rain.

"I repeat," Promise smirked. "Poor, poor first years."

"Sadist," Cedric muttered, just loud enough for Promise to hear as he began the sprint to the carriages.

"Of course," Promise yelled through the rain. "Who do you think I am anyways?"

"Promise Ledger?" Olivia remarked sarcastically as she moved into the horseless carriage, past Cedric, who was holding open the carriage door.

"I like it," Promise envisioned, shaking the water off her body as she sat next to Sam. "Promise Ledger: ."

"Last time I checked, Promise," Cedric added, shutting the door and sitting next to Olivia, across from Promise. "Being a wasn't a good thing."

"Depends on the point of view," Promise shrugged.

"Oh!" Sam shrieked. "Look at these windows! They're beaten and battered, even in this rain."

Olivia joined Sam in looking out the window at the heavy downpour as the carriage began to trundle out of Hogsmeade station and towards the Castle. Cedric lost himself for several seconds staring longingly at Sam before Promise tapped his knee, breaking him from his reverie… as usual.

"You should date her," Promise mouthed in the dim light to Cedric.

"Maybe later," Cedric mouthed back, looking back at Sam's dark hair, silhouetted against the dark windowpane.

Promise tapped him again. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"I know," Cedric nodded as he mouthed back. "But I can dream, can't I?"

"You know," Promise arched her eyebrows in their silent conversation. "It doesn't have to be a dream. She's totally crushing on you."

"Yeah," Cedric shrugged. "But do you think she's crushing on me or the 'untouchable demigod' we're so often referred to as?"

Cedric didn't look back at Promise, not wanting to discuss the conversation in their practiced mouthing system. Lightning and the occasional roll of thunder lit Sam's face brilliantly, leaving Cedric to release a very hushed, very slow sigh and Promise to merely rub her face in frustration.

At long last, the carriage stopped. Cedric pushed open the door and led the sprint to the front door and entrance hall. Squeaking shoes provided a dull undertone for the rumble of chatter as the student began to file into the decorated Great Hall.

Cedric took a seat next to Promise in the middle of the Hufflepuff table. Sam took her seat next to him as Olivia moved next to Sam. Cedric showed nothing more than a slight smile over at Promise.

"You are so hopeless," Promise whispered. "It's just a seat for goodness sakes!"

"Yeah," Cedric whispered back. "But it's the seat next to Samantha Bennett."

"Could you be any more hopeless?"

"Would you like to see me try?"

Promise gave up and waited patiently for the food to appear.

"You know," Olivia looked down the table at her. "The food doesn't appear until after the sorting."

Promise shot Olivia a very perturbed look.

"She's always hopeful," Cedric murmured to Olivia's taken aback face.

Cedric watched the rest of the students file in before the last batch of first year students filed in under the lead of Professor McGonagall. McGonagall halted the students and pulled out the three-legged stool and the sorting hat.

Cedric paid attention to the hat, but only slightly. The song repeated the same pattern every time: a background on the founders, their collaboration to found Hogwarts, the basis for all the houses and what each stood for, and finally the hat's directions on what to do when their name was called.

"I always do love that song," Sam clapped when the hat finished.

"Same here," Cedric applauded. "I just wish that I could hear some again, you know? I remember my first year was an amazing tune."

"They could probably make it a Wizarding Wireless channel," Promise said, not taking her eyes off her plate or lowering her poised knife and fork.

"If you say so," Sam chuckled as Professor McGonagall began to call names off the list of first years.

Cedric clapped for each politely and invited them over, giving each a slight pat if they passed him.

"Can't they just hurry up?" Promise and her stomach growled. "I'm starving."

"Maybe you should try to not eat so many Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," Cedric suggested.

"I don't," Promise looked at him defensively as Natalie McDonald ran to join the cheering Gryffindors. "I only eat the good ones, which means I eat less than you."

"Junk food doesn't do wonders for you," Cedric noted. "And besides, we'll probably raid the kitchen later anyways."

"But they don't cook for us. They give us what they have. I want some hot food!" Promise pouted.

"If you got into it you might enjoy it more."

"Fine," Promise dropped her fork and knife and cheered for the new Hufflepuffs as they joined the table. By the time they finished, she immediately picked up her fork and knife and prepared to eat as Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Are you kidding? Now is not the time for announcements!"

"I have only two words for you: Tuck in."

"I hear that!" Promise smiled as she stuck her fork and knife into the first food that appeared in front of her.

Cedric ate in silence, listening to the people discussing the summer's event loudly. Sam and Olivia fell into deep conversation about the possible class schedule in the wake of their O.W.L. exams at the end of the year.

"Are you taking Divination by any chance?" Cedric asked Sam and Olivia.

"Are you kidding?" Olivia looked at him. "I'm not crazy enough to take something that isn't real. I heard Trelawny is a complete dingbat too."

"Just wondering," Cedric shrugged.

"I love food," Promise muttered, drinking deeply from her goblet of Pumpkin juice.

"I know," Cedric patted her on the back, but not nearly hard enough to make her choke. "And that's why we all like to go nuts on these start and end of term feasts."

As though timed perfectly, the main course disappeared to give yield to the numerous desserts.

"And this is when I start to love food even more," Promise smiled.

"You know," Cedric scooped chocolate gateau onto his now empty gold plate. "If it wasn't for our early morning runs around the lake I don't know what you'd do to stay fit after these eating binges."

"It's called magic Cedric," Promise smirked through a mouthful of chocolate pudding, attempting to keep a straight face. "I go into my room at night and take off all the unwanted fat with my wand."

Cedric gagged.

"Just kidding," Promise laughed, switching her attention to a large spoonful of treacle tart.

"I know," Cedric coughed. "But just the thought of doing that is disgusting. Why would anyone want to do that?"

Promise shrugged. "Don't bother me. I'm appreciating the hard working house elves down in the kitchen."

They ate in silence for several more minutes until Promise leaned back and placed her hands on her still flat stomach. Within a matter of seconds, the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up to speak again.

"So! Now that we are al fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention while I give out a few notices."

"Thank goodness he waited," Promise burped. "I was starving."

"Mr. Filch," Dumbledore continued on. "The caretaker has asked me to tell you that the list of objects in the castle has been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office if anybody would like to check it."

"I hate how Filch likes to ruin the school," Olivia muttered, forcing Cedric and Promise to look around Sam and to her in shock. "What? I like to have fun too."

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade o all below third-year."

He paused slightly as Olivia picked up her goblet of pumpkin juice. "It is also, my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Olivia spit out her mouthful of juice all over her glistening plate. Within seconds it mopped itself back up to its original sparkling state. All three looked at Cedric and his opening and closing mouth.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy- but I'm sure you will enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

The Great Hall's door way slammed open, revealing a very worn man who leaned heavily on a staff. His black cloak billowed around him as with every other step a clunk reverberated around the hall as he made his way to the front of the hall to where Professor Dumbledore stood.

Cedric drew in a gasp with everyone else as the man's swiveling blue eye looked at him and every other student in the room. He shook Dumbledore's hand before taking a seat at the staff table and spearing a sausage with his own knife. He uncapped a hip flask and took a long, deep swig.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled into the stunned crowd. "Professor Moody."

The hall reverberated with the claps of Hagrid and Dumbledore, leaving Cedric, Promise, Sam, Olivia, and the rest of the students to gape at him.

"Mad-Eye Moody?" Promise whispered.

"Who?" Sam and Olivia asked at the same time.

"Mad-Eye Moody," Cedric muttered. "I think Dumbledore's lost his mind."

"Why do you say that?" Sam inquired.

"Because Mad-Eye Moody was one of the greatest Aurors who ever lived," Promise added. "Killed and captured a lot of Death Eaters back in the day."

"As I was saying," Dumbledore pressed on, forcing the student attention to shift back to him. "We are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Promise spit out pumpkin juice over her plate this time as Cedric did a double take.

"You're joking!" Fred Weasley shouted.

Everyone in the hall laughed.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore chuckled. "Though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…"

Promise snorted. "I love that joke!" After a second, she gasped in realization. "Oh my goodness! That's from _Peculiarities, Personalities, and Pectorals_!"

Cedric stared at her wide-eyed.

"Er- but maybe this is not the time… no…" Dumbledore reconsidered his tangent after a cough from Professor McGonagall. "Where was I? Ah yes, The Triwizard Tournament… well, some of you know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

Cedric focused even more intently on Dumbledore even though he knew full well what the tournament entailed.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

A barely noticeable ripple of concern passed through the crowd.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which have been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger."

"I like the mortal danger part," Promise rubbed her hands together. "Sounds exciting."

"Sounds like fun," Olivia laughed softly.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decided which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

Cedric swore he heard Promise's jaw hit the ground. He looked over to watch the scheming wide grin spread across her face.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore pressed on. "The heads of the participation schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age- that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This," Dumbledore raised his voice slightly and raised his hand. "is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion. I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen."

"I am so glad we'll be seventeen by October," Promise sighed, leaning back.

"That's so unfair!" Sam muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry," Promise nudged Cedric. "One of us will win it for Hogwarts."

"It sounded like such fun though!" Olivia scowled.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted-support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

The Great Hall burst into a plethora of sound. Excited talk between the hundreds of students drowned out the scraping of benches.

"Wow," Sam muttered breathlessly. "This year's going to be intense."

"No kidding," Cedric muttered as he stood up. "First year Hufflepuffs! Come over here!"

"Imagine winning that," Promise said dreamily. "That's a lot of money."

"I wouldn't do it for the money," Cedric said. "Hufflepuffs! This way!"

"Really?" Olivia asked, taken aback.

"Here we go again," Promise rolled her eyes as she began to gather the first years and turned around to take them to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"Yeah," Cedric shrugged. "It's not really that big a deal."

"A thousand Galleons, Ced!" Promise grabbed him and shook him gently. "One thousand! Do you understand that?"

"Who doesn't understand that?" Cedric smiled. "I just don't need it."

Promise rolled her eyes. "Fruit-bat," She said to the large badger statue, She turned around to the first year Hufflepuffs in the long hallway. "The password is fruit-bat. Don't forget it because I'm not telling you again."

The badger jumped gracefully upwards and bowed low to one side as a large hole in the wall opened up, revealing the familiar common room.

"You know," Sam said, as she shepherded the first years into the common room. "I just can't wait to see who our champion is. I just hope it's a Hufflepuff."

"Oh it will be," Promise smirked. "First year Hufflepuffs," she called out as the wall closed again. "This is your new home. This is the Common Room. Ladies, follow me to your dormitories, gentlemen, follow Cedric."

"See you in the morning?" Sam asked Cedric.

"Eight o'clock," Cedric smiled. "Promise, you up for a run tomorrow morning?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Promise asked, heading up the spiraling staircase to the s dormitories.

"Run?" Olivia asked. "I'm in. Where to?"

"Around the lake," Cedric smiled. "It's a nice brisk, early morning run in the mud. Quite fun, actually."

"I'm so in," Olivia smiled.

Cedric chuckled as he led the way up the stairs to the first year's dorms. He pushed open the door with the freshly placed "First years" plaque.

"This is your new room. Keep it clean, and you'll find all of your stuff here. Breakfast starts early tomorrow morning, and nobody's waking you up. Don't be late."

Cedric smirked as he closed the door and went back to his dorm. He opened the door and a small parchment paper airplane swooped and attacked Cedric's head. Aggravated at its persistence, he ed it, unfolded it, and began to read.

Ced,  
You still up for the Kitchen run we were talking about? I didn't want to give any of the first years the wrong ideas about invading our kitchen. Sam, Olivia, and I will meet you in the common room when you're done with your batch of little Voldemorts.  
Always  
Promise  
PS: In case you weren't listening, Sam is going.  
PPS: Just in case you didn't understand that. Sam will be joining us on our Kitchen run.  
PPS: Why are you still reading this? I'm already in the common room waiting for you. Hurry up!

Cedric laughed as he crumpled the piece of parchment. He walked briskly against the flow of Hufflepuffs heading up into their dorms for the evening. Sam, Promise, and Olivia all stood at the base of the stairway to the boy's dormitory, waiting for Cedric.

"I can't believe you're still hungry," Cedric muttered to Promise.

"What can I say? We have an early morning jog tomorrow. I gotta be ready."

They left the room and headed down the hallway away from the Great Hall. They followed the passage until they reached the large bowl of fruit.

"These are the kitchens?" Sam exchanged glances with Olivia.

"Yeah," Promise smirked, tickling the pear. "Haven't you ever been in here before?"

"No," Olivia shrugged. "Why would I?"

"These two have so much to learn," Promise sighed. She pulled on the handle formed by the pear and pulled back the painting, inviting Cedric, Olivia, and Sam to enter.

The House Elves already began to crowd around the entrance to the kitchens.

"Hello," They all said, slightly off time with one another creating an echoed ripple around the room.

"Good evening!" Promise beamed. "What do you guys have tonight."

"Oh, Ms Promise," a small, female House Elf stepped forward. "We have so much left over from dinner, not to mention the mass storage of desserts left over from the absence of students over summer."

"Sweenty!" Promise squealed and picked up the House Elf, pulling her into a tight hug. "How have you been? It's been three months? Is everything going ok?"

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Sweenty," Cedric explained. "She's Promise's contact in the kitchen. She's like, our own personal house elf representative for the kitchens. If the house elves want company, or someone to eat the food stores… anything like that, Sweenty's the one who comes and tells us about it. It's actually quite convenient."

"Oh, Ms. Promise," Sweenty buzz of a voice chirped. "It's been dreadfully dull this summer. Nothing of great importance happened, and, as always, we have extra food leftover from the feast an hour ago."

"I'm on it, Sweenty," Promise smirked, rubbing her hands together and licking her lips. "Anything you got that I can hold on to."

"Let's see," Sweenty rubbed her chin. "I'm not sure what we have. I know we have lots of chocolate éclairs left over. We also managed to procure some extra chocolate gateau. Actually, we just seem to have too much chocolate on our hands at the moment."

"I really like house elves," Sam smiled. "They always make me very happy. I should've talked to you two years ago."

Several minutes later, they waved goodbye to the house elves, their pockets full to the brim of chocolate treats. They walked back down the halls to the Hufflepuff common room, entered, and sat, enjoying each other's company for several minutes as they munched on delicious chocolate. Mainly, they discussed the Triwizard Cup, but it wasn't until Olivia mentioned Quidditch that Cedric remembered why he did not really think the Triwizard tournament was such a great idea after all. If he didn't make champion for the cup, he wouldn't have anything to do for the rest of the year. He couldn't fall back on Quidditch like he normally would. It would simply be a dull year. Olivia seemed in a worse position, though. Unlike Cedric, she couldn't even try to enter the Tournament based on the age restriction.

Several minutes later, Cedric finished his last dessert, fought his fluttering eyelids, and attempted to stand up. He tried three times, each time not succeeding and falling backwards into his chair.

Sam, Olivia, and Promise all laughed at his folly.

"Why don't you try it?" Cedric challenged them.

They each took at least five attempts to stand. In the end, they all stood staring at the deceptively comfortable looking armchairs.

"I'm so glad we have that jog in the morning to work all of this off," Promise sighed, hands on her stomach. "I'm going to sleep well tonight."

Cedric bid them goodnight and headed up the stairs to the dorm. He didn't even bother changing. He merely kicked off his shoes, placed his wand on the table and smiled before falling asleep.

Asleep on the first night of his sixth year at Hogwarts.

"Shhhh," Promise's hand covered Cedric's mouth as he opened his eyes.

"Promise," he threw her hand off, whispering. "You know you're not supposed to be in here. What are you doing?'

"Waking you up," She smiled. "We have a run scheduled, remember?"

"Yeah," Cedric muttered, careful to not awake the other Hufflepuffs in his dorm room. "What time is it?"

"Just before six," Promise smiled, biting off a small piece of chocolate éclair.

"Six?" Cedric exclaimed quietly. "What do you mean six? I thought we said seven."

"Oh, we did," Promise said, certain in her statement. "But then I thought when we get off the run at eight we wouldn't be so very pleasant. People won't be able to come near us. I, personally, want a go at the Prefect's bathroom this early in the morning."

"You know," Cedric muttered. "You could have told me last night." Cedric looked out upon the misty just-before-dawn Hogwarts grounds.

"Honestly," Promise sighed. "You make it sound like this is something I never do. Just get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs."

Promise moved swiftly and silently out of the room. Cedric sighed, threw his forearm to his forehead and laid there, eyes closed for several seconds before kicking off his covers and pulling on his Muggle clothes. He grabbed his wand, and waved it slowly before moving it fast enough to conduct music without it shooting out sparks. Smiling, he pocketed it, and ran on tiptoes down to the common room to find Promise, Sam, and Olivia all waiting for him.

"Ready?" Promise asked.

"Oh yeah," Cedric muttered.

They went quietly outside to the entrance hall and pushed open the doors, unconcerned about the curfew's ending at six.

"So what are we doing?" Promise inquired from the front steps. "Race around the lake?"

"Let's just take a brisk jog around it," Sam suggested. "It'll help us warm up to the course. We aren't experts like you and Ced, you know."

"True," Promise concurred. "A brisk jog it is. Now, you say brisk. I would like to tell you, try to keep up," she turned and grinned at Cedric. "Ready?"

"Always," Cedric responded, grinning back.

They took off and headed down the steps and towards the lake. Promise set the pace, as usual, Cedric followed next to her, and for the first couple of minutes, they ran alone, Sam and Olivia desperate to catch up.

"You know," Cedric huffed, heading onto the path that led around the lake. "This is rather mean."

"Nonsense!" Promise jested, turning around and running backwards. "You said you wanted brisk! You got brisk."

Sam rolled her eyes and picked up her pace around the lake, catching up within another few minutes to the rest of the group.

"O.W.L. year, huh?" Promise released a heavy breath, which crystallized in mid air for a split second before disappearing as she passed though it. "You guys are going to have a tough time."

"Whoa," Olivia gasped out defensively. "N.E.W.T. years are supposed to be insanely difficult. Don't start knocking us because we're a year younger than you."

"I ain't knocking you," Promise said as she turned around and began to run backwards. "I'm just pointing out you have classes every day, whereas me and Cedric here," She nudged Cedric's quick moving shoulder. "Actually get to have free periods now."

"Lucky," Sam crumpled her face.

"Show-off," Cedric muttered.

Promise stuck out her tongue and moved back around to face forward again. Within another few minutes, they rounded the final corner before the straight run to the castle.

"First to the door?" Olivia challenged.

"What happens when you three lose?" Promise looked back, refraining from taking off to the final sprint.

"Winner gets one candy of their choice from each of the losers on the next Hogsmeade visit," Olivia responded, smirking, as though she'd been planning it

"You're on," Promise smiled as she took off, pulling into the reserves she'd been holding back for the whole run.

Cedric chased after her, neck and neck with Olivia. He pumped his legs harder, creating the feeling that they would fall off any second. He pushed harder and faster, within another second, he pulled past Olivia, just behind Promise. Within twenty seconds they would reach the door. He pushed harder.

Without warning, a small blue coat flew past him and Promise. Sam sprinted up and took the steps three at a time before touching the door comfortably before Promise.

"You've got to be joking," Promise huffed, putting her hands on her knees and inhaling deeply. "I've never seen anyone move that fast."

Sam shrugged. "You think I don't run in my free time?"

All four huffing, they went into the entrance hall and down to the Hufflepuff Common room. They entered and grabbed their robes before heading off to the baths.

"I'm so going to the Prefect's bath," Promise said, an air of superiority coming from her upturned nose.

"If you knew the password," Sam stated.

"Which," Cedric thought aloud, pensively. "They didn't give us yesterday. How dreadful for you."

Promise looked at each of them. "Well," She flipped her hair back, shrugging off the simple truth. "It'll be that much better when I actually get in there."

Several minutes later, they all traveled to the great hall and the smells of breakfast so warmly provided by the house elves.

"Did I ever say that I love those guys?" Promise sighed squeezing the last of the saturated water from her hair.

"Yeah," Cedric looked over at Sam and Olivia's damp hair. "Just about every time you walk in here."

"Still," Sam inhaled, taking in the deep rich smell of bacon and eggs. "It can wake you up in the morning."

"As though an hour jog couldn't do that?"

"Oh no," Sam smiled. "That was just fun."

"Yeah," Olivia seemed put out. "Considering you won the candy of your choice. Maybe I'll get you some blood pops for kicks."

"Ha ha," Sam laughed sarcastically.

They sat at the Hufflepuff table, where Professor Sprout handed out the schedules to the students along the table. When she had finished the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth years, she pulled out a scroll of parchment and began to find the various sixth year Hufflepuffs along the table.

"Ah," She muttered in her delicate, raspy voice. "Ms. Ledger. Any classes you want? Very good O.W.L.'s by the way."

"Why thank you Professor," Promise looked back at Professor Sprout. "What are my options?"

"Well I can clear you for Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Potions, Advanced Herbology, Advanced Arithmancy, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Advanced Muggle Studies, and Advanced Charms."

"Let's go with," Promise considered her options for a second. "All except for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Advanced Muggle Studies, and Advanced Herbology. Sorry Professor."

"That is perfectly alright Ms. Ledger," Professor Sprout waved her wand over Promise's piece of parchment. "I'm sure your future will not necessitate the studies of Herbology. As I recall, you never did seem to like the subject."

"No," Promise held up her hands. "I like Herbology. In fact, I love it. I really do. I just don't think that it will be necessary in the future."

Olivia coughed, and Sam choked briefly on a piece of toast as Professor Sprout arched one eyebrow as she handed Promise her class schedule. "Isn't that exactly what I just said Ms. Ledger?"

"So it was Professor," Promise smiled as she ed the scrap of parchment from Professor Sprout's hand. "So it was."

"Ah," Professor Sprout smiled proudly at Cedric. "Mr. Diggory, congratulations. O.W.L.'s in all of your subjects. Very good work."

"Thank you, Professor," Cedric blushed as Promise, Sam, and Olivia all clattered their forks to their plates and looked over at Cedric, stunned.

"I'm sure you can take any advanced class that you will want to continue," Professor Sprout beamed brightly at Cedric.

"Well Professor," Cedric rubbed his chin. "Perhaps you can give me everything that you gave Promise but add on Advanced Herbology in there."

"Of course," Professor Sprout smiled as she waved her wand over the parchment.

Cedric looked over at Promise, who merely stuck out her tongue. "Suck up," she said, soft enough for Professor Sprout to not hear it.

Cedric shrugged as he thanked Professor Sprout for his schedule and examined it.

"Do you have a free first period?" Cedric inquired examining his schedule.

Promise nodded. "And Professor Vector after break?"

"This will be fun," Cedric smiled. "I hope we don't have any homework. I want an easy first day back. It will make me happy."

After another few minutes of conversing and discussing Sam and Olivia's schedules, Cedric and Promise bade them goodbye as they headed off to their first Herbology class out in the Greenhouses. Cedric and Promise headed back to the common room and began to discuss the many possibilities ahead of them in their new N.E.W.T. level classes.

"You know," Promise examined her _Standard Book of Spells Level Six_. "According to this, we learn how to do non-verbal spells."

"Don't you already know how to do that?" Cedric inquired.

"Of course," Promise stated as though he should have known it. "With nothing better to do at my parents' huge house, I go through their library and pull out old spell books and teach myself the spells. How do you think I know so many?"

"Intuition?"

"Well there's that too…" Promise's voice trailed off.

They discussed other possibilities and eventually found their conversation focused on Mad-Eye Moody. They theorized everything from what he would teach them to the numbers of homework he would assign per night.

Several minutes later, the bell for break rang and Cedric and Promise picked up their bags and headed up the stairs to the Arithmancy classroom on the sixth floor.

Outside the classroom, several other N.E.W.T. students stood hastily comparing the answers from their summer assignments.

"You said he'd find true love by his twenty fourth birthday? Oh dear, that's no good. No good at all."

"What'd you get about the French maiden in the tower?"

"The answer is yes, he is amazing."

"If I didn't know better," Promise muttered under her breath to Cedric. "I'd say that these N.E.W.T. students were first years after their first homework assignment."

"Yeah," Cedric shrugged. "Good thing we went over it before we got here. That was a long assignment."

"But hard?" Promise looked around at the scurrying students all looking for answers. "Was it really so difficult they couldn't derive the answers?"

"True," Cedric shrugged again. "Maybe they're just lazy and we should follow their example."

"Finally! You consider not doing work for the first time in your life."

"I did not consider it!" Cedric threw up his hands defensively.

"Yeah right," Promise made a face at him.

Promise and Cedric took their usual comfortable seats in the back of the classroom as the bell rang.

"Seats everyone," Professor Vector shut her office door, bright and cheery. "Let's all take our seats! It's the beginning of a new year, and, unless anyone's taking Advanced History of Magic, which, is, as always, no one, this will be your very first class of the day, school year, and the rest of your lives as Hogwarts students! You are no longer the lower levels. You belong to an elite caste. Welcome to the world of advanced classes.

"This means, however, that it is uphill from here. With the end of your O.W.L.'s you have now elected to take part in something greater. This class will be harder, faster, and more intense than any other class you have ever taken. Expect tons of homework every night after tonight. What you worked on over the summer is typical of a week's worth of homework.

"But for now, let's get down to business after I say one more thing.

"Welcome to Advanced Arithmancy."

Professor Vector set off teaching new curriculum as Cedric pulled out his quill and hurriedly copied down all of the notes he could. By the end of the class, he had scribbled notes all over a full sheet of parchment.

"Good work today ladies and gentlemen," Professor Vector nodded as the class began to pack up their bags at the bell. "No homework tonight unless you would like to get a jumpstart on this year's work. Read the first chapter of _Advanced Arithmancy _and you'll be fine."

Promise refrained from whooping until out of earshot of the classroom. "I love Vector's no-homework-on-the-first-day-of-term policy."

They trekked down the stairs and entered the Great Hall for lunch.

"How was your free period?" Sam asked as she pulled some steak and kidney pie from the large plate in from of her.

"Delightful," Promise smiled and shifted her weight, as though nestling in for a long nap. "And we have absolutely no homework from Professor Vector."

"She still does no homework on the first day even after O.W.L.'s?"

"I guess so," Cedric shrugged, grinning with his teeth.

"How was Herbology?" Promise grinned.

"It was good," Olivia said defiantly into her face. "Too bad you're not taking it."

"Yeah, bad. Something like that," Promise nodded. "Just means that I have less homework."

"You know," Sam looked over at Promise. "It's not like Professor Sprout assigns that much homework in the first place."

"Touché," Promise nodded. "Still, it's that much less I actually have to do."

"Maybe you should actually enjoy your classes," Cedric suggested. "And then by enjoying them you'd enjoy doing the work."

"I do enjoy classes," Promise stared at him. "Why the heck do you think I'm taking Potions? Or Arithmancy? Or Transfiguration?"

"For one thing," Cedric held up three fingers. "You are actually incredibly good at Potions, even though you don't like Professor Snape. You simply love and adore Professor Vector, and in Transfiguration, you like to suck up to Professor McGonagall, so she absolutely loves you."

"Ok, fine," Promise gave in. "So I'm just good at some classes. That doesn't mean I don't like them. What class do we have next?"

"Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts," Cedric answered.

"Oh!" Sam exclaimed. "Have you heard about Professor Moody yet?"

"No," Cedric exchanged looks with Promise. "What about him?"

"They say he's nuts," Sam looked at them with excited, wide eyes. "Really knows his stuff."

"Well," Promise attempted to keep a straight face. "It'll be pretty hard to top Gilderoy Lockhart."

They all laughed loudly.

"Remember that time that he pulled out his book and forced Geoffrey Davis to the front of the classroom in order to re-enact that werewolf scene?" Olivia wiped a tear from her eye as she attempted to catch her breath. "Oh I thought I was going to die."

"What a hack!" Sam wheezed.

"He was such a phony and a glory hog," Promise continued laughing. "I wouldn't be surprised if he actually found people who did that, had them tell their story, and then erased their memory."

They laughed even louder.

"Well," Cedric checked his watch between chuckles. I guess its time for us to go and meet this Professor Mad-Eye Moody."

"Yeah," Promise clutched her sides. "We'll tell you how it is, kids."

They waved to Sam and Olivia as they went up the stairs to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Most of the other sixth years stood around the hallways waiting for the classroom to open.

"You excited?" Promise smiled.

"Mad-Eye Moody is our teacher. How do you think I feel?"

The door opened and the N.E.W.T. level students all filed in. Cedric took a seat with Promise towards the back again.

"Good afternoon," Professor Moody growled, setting down papers on his desk at the front of his room.

The class chirped back a greeting.

"As you must know by now, I'm professor Moody. Alastor Moody," Moody began again. "I was an Auror for many years, and now I'm back as a last favor for Dumbledore. You are all brilliant Hogwarts students ready for the most intense Defense Against the Dark Arts class you have ever taken. And with the brilliance you must be prepared for a sense of constant vigilance!"

Cedric jumped in his seat like the rest of the class at the last two shouted words.

"This will not be an easy class. Your teacher Professor Lupin taught you the practical parts, and your teacher the year before," He examined a scrap of parchment on his desk. "Professor Gilderoy Lockhart," Moody spat, refraining from laughing. "I don't think I need to say any more than that."

The class chuckled in appreciation.

"But since you had at least one throw-away year, I think we best get started. It's a miracle you managed to pass your O.W.L.'s with such… teachers.

"Today you will learn how to cast non-verbal spells," Moody snarled. "Can anyone tell me the advantages to casting a non-verbal spell?"

The class remained silent and shifted uncomfortably in the wake of Moody's question. All of the students looked past the house groups they instinctively sat in order to see if anyone actually knew the answer. Tentatively, Promise raised her hand.

"Yes," Moody looked at Promise with his good eye while sizing her up with his constantly swiveling magical eye. "Ms. Promise Ledger."

Promise took a quick double take. "Um, sir. Isn't the advantage so that you can make sure that you can cast a spell without him or her knowing?"

Moody's gnarled mouth twisted into a slight smile. "Five points for Hufflepuff. If one can utilize the non-verbal spell effectively, one can take their enemy by a second's surprise. I know that in my old Auror days a non verbal spell managed to catch the Death Eaters," he emphasized and spat out those words. "I met off-guard," he smirked, reminiscing. "In order to cast a non-verbal spell, all you do is cast the spell without saying it. I will show you. Davies!" He barked, forcing the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain to jump in his seat.

"Me?" Davies pointed to himself and looked around at all of the other Ravenclaws surrounding him. "Me, Professor Moody?"

"Yes you, Davies," Professor Moody snapped. "Is there another student named Davies in this class? I don't see anyone else named Davies, so I must mean you. Stand up!"

Roger Davies kicked his chair back so fast it clattered to the floor. "Yes sir."

"Davies," Professor Moody pulled out his wand. "I want you to hex me."

"You want me to… what sir?" Davies blinked at him taken aback.

"Hex me, Davies," Moody stared at him. "Are you deaf? Surely you must know some! Don't insult Professor Lupin's reputation by telling me he never taught you any hexes."

"Oh, no, sir," Davies seemed to be trembling. "I just don't think I should hex you."

"And why not, Davies?" Moody barked again. "I'm telling you to hex me, so hex me!"

Davies shook his head and brought his mind around to thinking up a hex off the top of his head. "I'm not sure I can't think of any off the top of my head."

"Davies," Moody growled. "I am not a patient man. I order you to hex me."

"I- I-"

"Jelly legs jinx!" Moody exclaimed. "Don't you know the-"

With a loud bang, Davies's wand released a powerful jelly legs curse. Moody merely waved his wand, throwing up a shield without saying a single word. Davies wobbled quickly and he collapsed on the floor of the classroom, landing on his hands.

"Good, Davies!" Moody cackled. "Ten points to Ravenclaw! You know Davies," Moody limped over, his metal claw of a leg clunking with every other step and kneeled, placing a hand on Davies's shoulder. "For a minute there, I didn't think you'd do it, but you did."

Davies attempted to push himself up to his feet. "Thank you sir."

"That," Moody turned to the whole class. "Is how to cast a non-verbal spell," He held up his wand. "You simply wave your wand and cast the spell with your mind," He wove his wand and Davies kicked himself to his feet. Moody looked around to the rest to classroom. "Why aren't you copying this down?"

Within minutes, Moody scraped his way back to the front of the room and gave them all their notes on non-verbal spells. "Your assignment for the rest of the class period and tonight is to practice your non-verbal spells. In fact, some of you might find that casting non-verbal spells is easier than casting a verbal spell. Watch how many of your teachers cast non-verbal spells. As for now, however, it is time for practice."

"How did you get so good at that?" Cedric asked Promise several minutes later as they exited the class. She managed to cast every spell she knew perfectly without speaking, whereas Cedric had a great deal of trouble casting even the most basic of spells.

"Remember that week at the Quidditch World Cup?" Promise asked. "What do you think I did during that time? Sat around?"

The remainder of the week passed without incident. Cedric found Advanced Herbology very dull without Promise. She usually poked fun at Herbology, saying things like, "Of all the classes, we'll never use this one," and "why the heck am I here?" and "Can I have a venomous tentacula?"

By the time the Potions lesson rolled around on Wednesday morning, Cedric felt his brain twinge at the realization of exactly how much homework he still had. He relayed this information to Promise, who merely shrugged it off, telling him that she'd do it later. Cedric rolled his eyes as they entered the class.

Professor Snape began and lectured on the many possible potion solutions that they would be able to create after the N.E.W.T. class. Based on the curriculum, Snape assigned them to make a vial of the Draught of Living Death. Promise and Cedric opened their copies of Advanced Potion Making and began to create the potion.

Cedric and Promise both found themselves at an impasse, however. About halfway through the instructions of the potion making, Cedric found his potion simply not working. No matter how much he stirred, he could not quite make his potion work.

"It's not working," Promise chucked her ladle to the table. "I don't know what I did wrong! I followed every last step to the letter! What is going on?!"

"Promise," Cedric muttered, careful to try to not attract Snape's attention. "Mine's not working either. I know I followed mine to the letter, I triple checked my steps, remember?"

"But it should be a lilac!" Promise whispered. "Why isn't it lilac?"

Cedric looked over at Professor Snape and the curled smile his mouth formed.

"That's a little odd," Cedric told Promise. "Snape looks like we're supposed to fail."

Promise blew the long lock of brown hair out of her face. "Well, we aren't in Slytherin so he must be against us."

"But still," Cedric noted. "What if we're doing this wrong?"

"How can it be wrong?" Promise huffed, frantically checking the index of the textbook. "It's an advanced level textbook! We're supposed to follow it! It's supposed to be right!"

"Promise," Cedric laid his hand on her twitching hand. "When have you ever played by the book? What if this book is wrong? If we're both doing the same thing and getting the same results then it must be the book's fault."

In the end, Promise and Cedric managed to make the best potion of the class. During their break, Promise and Cedric dashed to the library to find Madame Pince, asking her about her opinions on their "Advanced Potion Making Textbook."

Madame Pince merely laughed. "Every year," She shook her head. "Every year it's the same problem. No one thinks to check here for a better textbook. I'll be honest. The only reason Hogwarts requires Advanced Potion Making is because Professor Snape enjoys testing the students. He wants to weed out which students are serious and which aren't."

Cedric and Promise merely glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"That's alright though," Madame Pince grinned. "Because I just happen to stock the real textbook you should use. I only keep one copy. Professor Snape likes it that way."

Promise and Cedric grinned at each other as they checked the large textbook out of the library and dragged it back to the Hufflepuff common room. They pored over it during the period until lunch, comparing the different directions for the Draught of Living Death, using it to begin their next composition on errors for their potion making.

By the weekend, Cedric slept in for the first time after the many hours of homework he had over the week. He reflected on the many hours yet to come in an average week once Professor Vector started assigning them serious Arithmancy work and Professor Moody actually got around to assigning non-practical assignments, which, Promise assured Cedric, would happen by the end of the following week.

He headed down to the breakfast table with Sam and Olivia, not waiting for Promise, who used Saturday mornings for her "beauty sleep."

"So today is Saturday," Cedric sighed.

"Yes," Olivia stared off into the distance, fumbling for her toast in the absence of not seeing the plate. "A day of relaxation."

"And no Quidditch practice," Cedric sighed, signaling a moment of silence between the three of them.

"We could always go out for a run," Sam suggested, but reconsidered from the looks from Olivia and Cedric. "Or we could just… not."

Cedric decided to get a jump-start on his Herbology work in the absence of Promise to work with. He chose a nice comfortable chair and table near the fire and sat with Olivia and Sam, working through the better part of the day.

Around noon, Promise sidled down the stairs, yawning widely. "Morning all."

"Morning," Cedric smiled, snapping his Herbology textbook closed. "Nice to see that the Queen Bee has finally woken herself up."

"Ha, ha," Promise muttered. "Have you talked to your father recently?"

"No," Cedric looked at her blankly. "Why?"

"Maybe you should talk to him about the Triwizard Tournament," Promise offered. "It would be good for you to keep in touch with him."

"You know," Cedric's voice rose. "If you didn't remind me I would have gone to do it anyways."

"Then let's get to it!" Promise clapped her hands. "Chop, chop!"

Cedric rolled his eyes and scribbled a full note to his father and mother detailing his first week back at Hogwarts and telling them how he felt about it all and his plans to enter the Triwizard Tournament.

En route to the Owlrey, Cedric passed many people who waved and smiled. Once in the Owlrey, Cedric tied the note to Dani and sidled her off to his home. He stared at her until she became a pinprick on the horizon. He turned to leave and bumped into Cho Chang at the door.

"Oh," Cho blushed, picking up the letter she dropped and refusing to make contact with Cedric's eyes. "I'm so sorry. The Owlrey is usually empty, so I didn't think anyone was here and I was in a hurry and I-"

"It's ok," Cedric smiled. "It was an accident, no harm done."

"Good," Cho grinned sheepishly. "That's good. I like it when it's an accident."

Cedric stared at her, forcing her to realize exactly what she said.

"I mean," Cho fumbled for words. "If it's an accident then it's not anyone's fault, you see. It's just what it is: An accident."

"If you say so," Cedric shrugged. "Anyways, I have to get back to my studies. See you around Cho."

"Yeah," Cho sighed. "See you around Cedric."

Cedric twiddled his fingers in a gesture of farewell as he moved out of the Owlrey, so preoccupied with the awkward situation that he failed to hear Cho's sigh as her back hit the wall and she slid gracefully down to the ground, smiling.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter or Cedric or any of the non-original things in this (you know exactly what they are) and yes, I will confess I did lift some speeches and dialogue from the books just to put things in context for you, and remind you exactly what's going on here... I doubt you need that background because you love the books so much, but I felt it necessary... Hurt me and... well... I won't be able to write any more... so don't hurt me... Seriously...

**Chapter 8  
The Split**

The next several weeks leading up to Halloween passed rather slowly for Cedric. He found himself bogged down in the massive amounts of homework typical of his Advanced N.E.W.T. class. The workload was so heavy, in fact, that he very rarely managed to get to bed before midnight on a regular basis and often came to the realization that if Hogwarts did have Quidditch this year, the practices and captaining would have killed him.

Promise seemed to be suffering under the weight of homework as well. Even in the absence of Herbology she still stayed up with Cedric every night, reviewing spells and homework. One night, in the first week of October, she threw down her quill in the midst of their third hour of Transfiguration homework.

"I quit," She yelled, turning the waning amount of Hufflepuffs in the common room around to stare for an instant before they all retreated into what they were doing before Promise's outburst. "I give up and I refuse to do another lick of Transfiguration homework for as long as I live. I flat out refuse it."

Cedric began. "Promise, I don't think-."

"No, Cedric," Promise leaned back in her high backed chair. "We have a lot of free time and I still can't get this homework done. I don't understand it! How can we have free periods at least twice a day and still have less time than we've ever tried before? It's not worth it. And don't you try to convince me."

"Ok," Cedric threw down his own quill and leaned back into his own squishy armchair. "Then I guess if you're so defeated you should just move back in with your parents and live with them until the age of seventeen. Then you can go out and try to live in the wizarding world, which will be very difficult to do without a full wizarding education."

Promise shot him a death glare. "Honestly, Ced, when am I ever going to have to learn how to a bedpost into a maiden head? It's ridiculous."

"You know Promise," Cedric looked at her. "You have several O.W.L.'s. What you're doing now is proving you're better than everyone in the wizarding world. Do you have any idea how many wizards have N.E.W.T.'s? If you can do it, it puts you in the top five percent of all of them. Now won't that be nice?"

Promise looked at him, attempting to hide the definitive understanding that sprang to life in her eyes. Slowly, feigning apprehension, she picked up her quill and began to write, the thirst to prove herself outweighing the resignation that had occupied her eyes just a moment before.

Cedric smirked and picked up his own quill. "Yeah. I'm that good," He murmured as he returned to his studies.

Promise stopped complaining about homework after that. She worked harder and faster than Cedric had ever seen her work before, often finishing her homework early enough to laugh at Cedric's being slow, or, if she finished so early that laughing at Cedric got dull, she would help Sam and Olivia on their piles of homework.

One night, however, Cedric and Promise entered the Common Room after dinner and Promise didn't even start doing the night's Arithmancy homework even though Professor Vector had assigned so much homework that she had given the students a chance to work on it in class and Cedric and Promise had both barely been able to finish the first of the seven problems in the hour of class time given to them.

"Why aren't you working on Arithmancy?" Cedric inquired, pulling out his quill and textbook. "You know full well how much homework we have."

"That I do," Promise responded, not looking up from the question Olivia had posed to her about switching spells.

"So why are you not doing it?" Cedric asked politely.

"Because it's a waste of my time," Promise replied defiantly.

"Remember that conversation we had earlier? About you proving you're better than everyone else?"

"Yeah. That speech did wonders for me," Promise sighed, shrugging. "But the point is I have way too much on my plate right now to worry about some N.E.W.T.'s."

"And why's that?" Sam chirped in, putting the last touches on her own paragraph.

"Because tomorrow marks the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament," Promise explained, saying it as though she were telling a child that waving a wand is what makes a spell happen. "And we have short periods and we have no Arithmancy."

"So?" Cedric looked at her. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't do your homework."

"Yes it does," Promise sighed. "Because when I'm chosen as the Hogwarts Champion I don't even have to care about homework any more, do I?" She held up arms defensively. "I'm exempted from exams altogether."

"That's a big if," Olivia remarked.

"But it's a definite if, isn't it?" Promise smiled.

"Touché," Cedric answered. "But I'm still going to do my homework whether you do it or not, and whether you win or not."

They went to class the next day, and, just as Promise had predicted, their teachers didn't collect a scrap of homework, instead giving them a free period with which to catch up on their studies. In Transfiguration, however, Professor McGonagall addressed the class specifically regarding the arrival of the guests just before the end of the period.

"I trust you all will be on your best behavior in front of our guests," She told them. "I know you will probably hear it many times throughout their stay here, but we are to be their hosts, so you should act responsibly and respectably so they feel welcome. I would also like to remind you as upper-level students of this school you will be the role models to the younger students, especially the first years."

Promise tutted softly.

"So I hope you all have a pleasant evening and enjoy our guests' arrival tonight."

The bell rang and they left the classroom. Cedric and Promise followed behind their fellow Hufflepuffs in silence, attempting to overhear the rumors about the other students' arrival.

"I think they'll come by train."

"Nonsense, they'll come by broom of course."

"What if they come in and ride on dragons? I hear Durmstrang is located in some small, desolate area where dragons still roam free."

"You'd think they'd know that those are all way too predictable," Promise muttered to Cedric.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean they'd never do something tacky like fly in on broomstick or ride on dragons. That's just preposterous. Would you ever do that?" Cedric shook his head. "See? Neither would I. There's no class in it. As for the train, I just can't see the different institutes not on the British Isles traveling to London just to take the Hogwarts Express. No. It's too easy."

Cedric merely shrugged as he followed Promise past the bowing badger into the Common Room, where Promise and Cedric both dumped their bags on comfortable armchairs. They waited for Sam and Olivia to arrive before leaving for the Entrance Hall.

Professors Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape all stood in the front of their respective houses and barked orders to the students. Cedric caught a glimpse of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. It always marveled him to see that the other students like Harry Potter all went through the same thing that Cedric was even though they were in completely different houses.

Professor Sprout began to organize her Hufflepuffs into lines according to year. Cedric and Promise stood in the second to last line being formed while Olivia and Sam stood directly in front of them, in the line for fifth years. Cedric looked down the row to see Cho Chang in the Ravenclaw fifth year line in front of them turn away, giggling innocently. Cedric rolled his eyes. _What was she doing?_

"First years!" Professor Sprout called out. "Let's go!"

Cedric heard Promise huff to his left. They slowly filed out of the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds in their long, proper lines. The chill nipped at Cedric's nose and cheeks, stinging them viciously. He shifted his weight around in his large coat to prepare for the potential wait, recalling most wizards appeared late in order to perceive the dramatic effect of showing off. He looked around at the other students, catching snippets of their conversations, but, in the end, he simply couldn't resist staring down at Sam, who was positioned in the line in front of him, a little bit off to the left side. His jaw went lax as he began to daydream of a hot summer day under the lake, with Sam in his arms, pulled into his chest, laying peacefully. Smiling, she turned around and leaned in close ready to-

Promise nudged him in the ribs, making him to choke slightly. He looked over at her, and she smirked at him. "Tell you what," She whispered to him. "When you're going out with her, you can gaze at her all you want, but if I notice you being too obvious before then…"

"But you're always noticing me looking at her," Cedric said, pouting.

"Yeah," Promise sighed, rubbing her elbow lovingly. "But you're giving me way too much excuse to hit you in the ribs by doing it. Besides, you really think there's a time when you're not watching her?"

Cedric looked over at her. He turned his eyes to the sky only to hear Professor Dumbledore shout something from the back of the lines. The students all focused on an ever-growing pinprick on the evening sky. Cedric watched it approach rapidly before coming to a deceitfully graceful landing on the lawn in front of them. He heard Olivia cry out in pain as Gryffindor Fourth Year Neville Longbottom jumped backwards and landed on her foot. Cedric reached over and squeezed her shoulder. He kept his eyes focused on the bright blue carriage on the Hogwarts lawn. The door swung open and the Beauxbatons Headmistress emerged from the carriage, standing up straight and tall as someone in the back row began to clap.

Madame Maxime and Professor Dumbledore exchanged several words, but Cedric paid the whole affair little attention. While Promise, Olivia, and Sam all seemed to hang onto the visitors' every word, Cedric still couldn't stop looking at the back of Sam's head.

The blue clothed Beauxbatons students and Madame Maxime all headed the castle, leaving the Hogwarts students standing in the cold. Another elbow made contact with Cedric's ribs.

"Honestly," Promise whispered into Cedric's ear, so softly Cedric doubted Promise could hear her own voice. "It's just the back of a head."

Cedric merely shook his head. _She would never learn._

He looked up at the rest of the crowd. They all began to shiver, waiting anxiously for Durmstrang's arrival. He looked over to see Promise and heard her foot tap the ground impatiently. Absentmindedly, he began to design a musical beat around the tapping, improvising off of the set rhythm set by Promise. After a while, he noticed a deeper tone, originating from the darkness from somewhere on the ground.

Promise's tapping stopped. "Do you hear that?"

"Yeah," Cedric nodded, alarmed.

"The lake! Look at the lake!" Cried a Gryffindor fourth year.

A whirlpool began to form across the black, glassy surface of the lake, shooting out a long pole that gave way to a huge ship that rested on the suddenly tranquil lake.

Cedric stared at the massive boat in amazement, blinking hard twice.

"Now _that's_ an entrance," Promise chuckled and nodded her head.

A large board came down from the ship and landed on the lake's shore. The Durmstrang students approached them. Cedric grinned as they approached. The tournament was about to begin and he started to quiver in anticipation. The headmaster, Professor Karkaroff and Dumbledore exchanged several words. Cedric, much like his reaction to the Beauxbatons students kept his eyes riveted on Sam's hair, until someone caught his eye, a large, surly student.

He gasped and watched Viktor Krum follow Professor Karkaroff into the castle.

Students all around him burst into a raucous explosion of whispers. Sam turned around to face Cedric.

"Did you just see that?" She looked at Promise and Cedric as they headed back to the castle.

"Doesn't mean I believe it, Promise looked up at the Durmstrang students entering the Entrance Hall. "Did you know he was still in school?"

Olivia shook her head. "That's amazing. Who would've known he actually still went to school? Maybe I can get his autograph." She looked over to see a gaggle of other girls all fighting each other for a stick of lipstick. "On second thought, maybe I'll do it later."

They took their familiar seats at the Hufflepuff table. Several minutes passed as the Durmstrang students joined the Slytherins at their table and the Ravenclaws conversed with the Beauxbatons students while Dumbledore situated himself at the Staff table.

Dumbledore raised his hands and a silence fell over the crowd. He said several words of greeting and food appeared on the table before Cedric had even begun to listen to him.

They ate, discussing the origins of the different schools. Sam, Olivia, Promise, and Cedric Beauxbatons was located in France, but failed to agree on its exact location. Sam and Cedric argued it must be somewhere near Paris because of the warm weather uniforms they wore. Promise and Olivia, however, contended that they would be located in the mountains, relatively far from Paris as the Parisian suburbs extended so far the Muggles would probably bump into the Academy before too long.

Eventually, they switched topics and discussed Durmstrang. Once again, they agreed that it would be located in the same general area: Eastern Europe. Cedric figured it would be located in Bulgaria, as Krum did play for the Bulgarian national Quidditch team. The others argued that it would be located in a relatively remote area in the mountains. Promise suggested the Urals, and the others seemed to agree with her.

At long last, Dumbledore stood up again and a hush fell over the crowd. He introduced the judges, including the two representatives from the Ministry of Magic: Bartemius Crouch from the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Ludo Bagman from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Then Dumbledore called for Mr. Filch to carry out a large jewel encrusted casket. Cedric lost his focus while looking at the casket. He felt tied to it somehow, as though his future was intertwined with the object inside. He managed to latch into the conversation just as Dumbledore began to describe the tournament itself.

"There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess- their daring-their power of deduction-and, of course, their ability to cope with danger.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating school. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore tapped the casket three times and it creaked open. He pulled out a perfectly normal looking wooden cup full to the brim with blue-white flames. Dumbledore placed the cup on top of the casket.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it "has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

The Great Hall burst into instant talk. Cedric could hear the Weasley twins shouting amid the din. Cedric stood up and took one last look at the Goblet of Fire, feeling his breath quicken.

Promise took her elbow and rested it awkwardly on Cedric's shoulder. "Yeah, I think it's magical too."

Cedric shook himself out of his trance. "Sorry, I don't know why, but I keep getting this strange feeling when I look at that goblet."

"That's cuz it's the impartial judge that's going to make me Hogwarts Champion," Promise looked back at Sam and Olivia. "Feel up for a Kitchen run your three?"

"Absolutely," Sam yawned. "It's been a while and you all still owe me candy."

"And you aren't getting that candy here," Promise grinned widely. "You have to wait until we go to Hogsmeade next."

The four of them headed down the corridor past the Hufflepuff students flocking to the entrance to the Hufflepuff house, traveling all the way until they reached the portrait of the fruit bowl. Olivia, who had asked if she could, tickled the pear and pulled on the handle.

The House Elves, who always seemed to know they were coming, congregated around the entrance to the kitchens, arms already laden with leftover exotic food.

"Miss Promise," Sweenty piped up. "I'm so glad you're here! So many of our special plates weren't eaten by the students. Anything special you would like?"

"You know," Promise shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "I could go for a little more of that Crème Brule."

Immediately, a huge bowl of a crystallized, sugar-covered dessert screamed over the hands of the house elves to the four of them.

Promise smiled and grabbed the whole bowl. "Don't even think about it."

Olivia, who had held up her finger and opened her mouth, prepared to ask for a bite of the pudding, dropped her hand and attempted to look normal. "Or I could have some of this… bread." Olivia frowned in thought as she picked up the nearest piece of food, which just so happened to be a loaf of whole wheat leftover from dinner.

Sam laughed and gratefully took some of the cake from the nearest house elf. "I'd ask for some of the Crème, but…" Her voice trailed as Promise looked up at her, acting like an incredibly territorial animal.

"I saw it first," Promise growled as she flicked a spoon into existence with her wand and threw it up into the air with her wand. She then pocketed her wand and snatched the spoon, diving into the custard pudding and savoring every last bite.

"Be that as it may, Promise," Cedric looked at her half in disgust, half in humor. "It doesn't mean you still shouldn't share."

"Yes, it really does," Promise scowled and looked at her. "I love this stuff."

Sweenty sat them down at a kitchen table and they all began a spirited conversation about the different potential champions and how they looked in relation to the tournaments.

Finally, when Promise had filled herself up on the heavy dessert, she flicked her wand and made the pudding disappear, obviously planning to pull it out at a later time.

Cedric led the way out to the Hufflepuff Common Room but stopped at the entrance, smiling. "You want to go and see the Goblet of Fire?"

Promise widened her eyes. Sam and Olivia nodded vigorously and they headed to the Entrance Hall. They peeked around the wall and looked at the large plinth in the center of the room. Professors Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Moody McGonnagall, Madame Maxime, Mr. Crouch, and Mr. Bagman all circled around the Goblet. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and carefully drew a large circle around it.

"So much for you two getting in," Promise smiled and nudged the other two girls.

Olivia punched her in the arm affectionately. Before too long, the crowd left and headed off to their respective locations for the remainder of the night.

"In less than twenty-four hours…" Promise's voice trailed off.

That voice echoed in Cedric's ear for the next several minutes on the trip back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, up the stairs to his room, and into his bed, all the while repeating themselves in his mind.

The next day dawned early for Cedric. He yawned, stretched like a cat, and jumped out of bed, ready to greet the day. Dressing quickly, he walked out to the Common Room to find Promise reading a copy of the morning's _Daily Prophet_. Sam and Olivia sat next to her, playing a very spirited game of Parchment wars.

"Morning, Ced," Promise stood up and folded the newspaper, placing it in the folds of her robes. "Ready to go burn some paper?"

"Absolutely." Cedric smiled and walked over to the table where Sam and Olivia were having their Parchment Wars.

"You two ready to see history?" Promise asked.

"Hang on," Sam contorted her face in concentration as her vicious, shelled blast ended skrewt with spikes on its tail sliced off an arm of Olivia's small, long legged spider. Off balance, the spider swayed uneasily before crashing onto the table. Sam rolled her skrewt over the spider's small body and crushed it.

Olivia sighed in defeat. "Alright, let's go."

Cedric led the way down the corridor to the Entrance Hall, emerging into the grand room to the sight of nearly thirty Hogwarts students gathered around the Goblet of Fire.

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley all emerged from the Great Hall, talking about something jovially. At once, Hermione smacked her forehead and sprinted up the marble staircase as the Beauxbatons students entered the Entrance Hall. All of the students in the circle around the Goblet opened a path for the Beauxbatons students to submit their names, each Beauxbatons student moved forward and deposited their names in the Goblet, including a silver haired girl who caught Cedric's eye, looking over and winking at him, much like Cho Chang had done on so many occasions. He felt a kind of warmth travel through him and perceived that the only time he had experienced such a feeling was at the Quidditch World Cup when the Veela had begun to dance. The Veela girl stepped forward and placed a scrap of Parchment into the Goblet. It turned red and sparks shot out from the top. She looked over, flashed her hair and gave Cedric an incredibly smug smirk, making the fleeting feeling return once again.

When all the Beauxbatons students had entered their names, Madame Maxime led them out the oak front doors and to their powder blue carriage outside. Seconds later, Hermione Granger returned with a small box in her hand. She rattled it behind Harry and Ron and the three of them set off and down to Hagrid's Hut.

Cedric shook himself back to reality and watched as Promise, smiling, pulled a piece of parchment out of her robes. She stepped gingerly over the line, kissed the piece of parchment, tossed it in, and did not look back, even when the Goblet turned red and spat sparks out the top again.

"Your turn, pretty boy," She smiled.

Cedric sighed and pulled out his own piece of Parchment on which were written the words: _Cedric Diggory. Hogwarts._ He stepped forward and paused at the aging line Dumbledore had drawn. He looked up at the Goblet, took a deep breath, and stepped into the circle. He held his piece of parchment aloft, and dropped it into the blue fire. Te fire turned red, and his piece of parchment disappeared as though incinerated on contact with the cup.

"That wasn't so hard," Cedric looked back at the Goblet. "I need to go send out an Owl to my parents. It's been a while and they'll want to know that I entered myself."

"Shouldn't you wait until tonight after you're selected Champion?" Sam asked.

"Excuse me?" Promise looked at her shocked. "What about me?"

"I figured I would tell them I entered just so they'd know I have," Cedric shrugged. "No harm in that. And besides, Sam," He looked at her unconvinced. "What are the chances my name flies out of the Goblet?"

They all left the Entrance Hall and joined the students in the Great Hall who, like Cedric, had woken late and just managed to catch the tail end of Breakfast. After breakfast, Promise suggested a three-lap run around the lake, and all agreed.

Cedric pulled on some of his more casual robes and prepared to join in the run around the lake. He met up with Olivia, Promise, and Sam in the Common Room, and the three of them began their brisk jog across the grounds.

The jog turned out rather enjoyable, even though the four of them did not talk for the duration of it. Cedric merely contented himself to be perfectly happy surrounded by his three best friends, and spent their jog enjoying their silent company.

At the end of their run, they re-entered the Entrance Hall and looked at the Goblet again. Students still crowded around it, gazing longingly at the majestic blue flame over the crown.

Cedric, who felt physically unpleasant after the lengthy exercise he had just partaken, decided it would be nice to have a bath in the Prefect's Bathroom, where he could have the room to himself for some time. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed up the stairs to the fifth floor.

On his way to the statue of Boris the Bewildered, Cedric passed many other friendly Hufflepuffs. Many wished him good luck for the upcoming evening and he waved back happily, glad to know that even though he did not think he would win the position of Hogwarts Champion, that at least some believed in him enough to think he was worthy of the honor.

"Squeaky Ears," Cedric said to the locked, fourth door away from the statue of Boris.

The magical door clicked open, and he stepped inside, locking it behind him. No one else would join him in here. It was midafternon and he was in for a relaxing time spent in the greatest bathroom he had ever been in. He disrobed and stepped into the marble bathtub, placing his foot in gingerly, so as not to be shocked too much by the cold marble beneath him. He turned on the tap that sent out the icy, weight supporting foam, the tap that shot out the green, foam that reminded him of a green frosting on birthday cakes, and the tap that sent out the foam that turned the water a different color depending on which bubbles popped.

After a few moments, he turned off the taps and collected the large amounts of the icy foam he had created and amassed it onto a huge pile, heaving himself onto it and relaxing. He put his hands under his head and gazed up at the ceiling, dozing behind closed eyes.

Several minutes later, he accidentally rolled off his self made foam bed and landed back in the water, which turned many different colors rapidly as he popped the bubbles all around him. He sputtered and decided it was probably safer to sit on one of the steps and soak in the delightfully warm water around him.

Some time later, he jumped out of the bath and let all of the water down the drain. He pulled over the warm, fluffy, yellow towel that had his name embroidered into the bottom of it, dried himself off, tossed the towel into the bin marked "Used," dressed, and set off for the Owlrey.

He trekked up to the tower and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and scribbled out a note to his parents telling them he was alright and that he submitted his name to the Goblet of Fire. He tied the note to Dani's leg and whisked her out of the window, watching her fly off into the distance before breathing a sigh of relief, heading back to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

When he entered the Common Room, he went up to his room, grabbed his bag, and brought it downstairs in, beginning to work on his Transfiguration homework with Promise, which was to learn how to successfully turn a table into a deer. He studied Professor McGonagall's notes as he worked with Promise, attempting to perfect the spell.

When he and Promise had successfully turned two tables into two deer after at least a dozen attempts, the other Hufflepuffs in the Common Room oooo-ed and ahhhh-ed at the success that the two of them had had in turning their inanimate objects into animate ones.

"I love showing off," Promise sighed, as her deer nuzzled up against Cedric. "Oh, look! They're so realistic they actually have feelings for one another!" Promise released a very long sigh of satisfaction as she waved her wand and changed her deer back into a table, stopping as soon as she had completed the motion. "That's enough of that."

Cedric laughed and waved his wand. The buck, which looked around desperately for his mate, changed back into the circular table it had been seconds before. He checked his watch and realized he had squandered most of the day. Because the feast would begin in less than an hour, Promise challenged him to a game of Wizard's Chess to kill the time until the feast.

He always loved Wizard's Chess. It was quite exhilarating to watch small, miniature figurines smash their counterparts to pieces and yell and scream and flex muscles at each other and their controller throughout the duration of the game.

Promise won, but barely. It was only the fact that she placed a great deal of faith in her Bishops that she managed to kidnap all of Cedric's pieces. She breathed a sigh of relief as Cedric's king threw down his crown in disgust, smashing it beneath his heel.

"Now that's how you play chess."

They stood up and left the Common Room with Sam and Olivia, talking excitedly about the feast that was about to begin even until they took their seats at the Hufflepuff table. Reflexively, Promise shut her mouth and held up her knife and fork expectantly, waiting patiently for Professor Dumbledore to take his seat. Cedric chuckled and shook his head as the Beauxbatons students entered the Great Hall, Madame Maxime and Hagrid at the head of the line. The Beauxbatons students took their seats at the Ravenclaw table as Hagrid and Madame Maxime made their way to the Staff Table. He nudged Sam and Olivia, not wanting to smack Promise out of her trance. The two girls giggled.

"I think I saw that one coming," Olivia put her hand over her mouth to stifle the fits of laughter she had from seeing Hagrid act incredibly awkwardly around Madame Maxime.

What seemed like seconds later, the Durmstrang students entered, Viktor Krum walking next to Professor Karkaroff. Krum led the line to the Slytherin table and Karkaroff took his seat at the Staff Table next to Dumbledore's empty seat.

And then, walking through and looking rather unspectacular after the entry of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students walked Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Cedric watched them take their seats next to the Weasley twins, smiling, remembering they had, like him, spent another day in Hogwarts doing goodness knew what.

The feast began. Promise unceremoniously dove into her food and ate as much as she did the night before, saving room, of course, for the Crème Brûlée.

Like most of the other people in the hall, however, Cedric found the feast long and slow moving. He waited patiently for the election of the Champions even though his mind seemed to be unable to take the suspense much longer.

At long last, Dumbledore stood up and called for the Hall's attention.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber-" Cedric watched intently as Dumbledore pointed to a door just behind the staff table. "-where they will be receiving their first instructions."

Dumbledore waved his wand and the candles extinguished, leaving only the blue blaze from the Goblet as light for the Hall. Cedric felt like Promise did before dinner, the blue light sweeping him into a snake-like trance.

Without warning, the light turned red and sparks burst forth from the top of the Goblet. A small charred piece of parchment flew out of the top and floated lazily down to earth. The flames turned back to blue as Dumbledore deftly swung out his hand and read the strip of parchment.

"The Champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum."

The hall burst into tumultuous applause. Olivia tapped Cedric on the shoulder and looked at him, nodding smugly, as though she said Krum would be champion and she had mystical, foresight into the future. Krum stood smugly and walked all the way to the Staff Table, turned right, and entered into the door behind the staff table.

At once, the dying died and the goblet turned back to red. Sparks shot out, along with another small scrap of Parchment. Dumbledore caught the scrap and read it aloud.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

The Veela girl stood up and looked conceitedly up and down the tables of the Great Hall before walking up the gap between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. She walked right past Cedric, smiled right into his eyes, and shook her hair.

Cedric blinked twice and shook off the feeling again as she disappeared into the door behind the staff table. Cedric cheered politely, but anyone looking would not be able to call it much more than that. He turned and faced the goblet again. The silence in the room surrounded him so fully that he felt almost suffocated by it.

The Goblet turned red and shot out the final scrap of paper. Dumbledore caught it and then read the writing out loud again.

"The Hogwarts champion," He called out. "Is Cedric Diggory!"

The soundless room burst into an echoing chamber of sound. Promise and Sam dragged Cedric to his feet as the other Hufflepuffs all jumped to their feet, banging the table with their fists, stamping the ground, and making as much noise as they possibly could. Cedric couldn't help it: a wide grin burst across his face.

"I knew it would be you!" Promise shrieked. She pulled him into a tight hug.

Cedric stepped out from the benches, looked down the long walk to the Staff table, and began to make his way down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, taking a look at Harry Potter. Part of him gloated at Harry, but the other part reminded him that Harry couldn't compete. He walked all the way to the staff table, looked at Professor Dumbledore, who smiled approvingly, and walked through the door and into the room containing the other Champions. Even through the door, he could hear the applause continue long after he left.

He looked at the fire, and Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum looked back at him. He felt as though he should cower back at their impressive stature.

"Hi," He said awkwardly. "I'm Cedric, Cedric Diggory."

"Hello," Fleur said flirtatiously. "Pleased to meet you." She stuck out her hand.

Krum merely nodded.

"So what do you reckon happens now?" Cedric asked as he noticed the noise that didn't come from the Great Hall, having died down since the announcement of his name.

"We wait," Said Fleur delicately. "It will only be a matter of time before zey come in and tell us what to do."

They stood around the fire in silence, Cedric absolutely ecstatic. He wanted to just scream out loud with relief, but composed himself as the other students would, staring into the fire, watching it flicker, and lick the logs in the fireplace before letting another genuine smile break across his face.

The door behind them creaked open. Cedric didn't turn to look.

"What is it?" Fleur asked. "Do zey want us back in ze hall?"

Cedric turned around. There, in the now closed doorway, stood none other than Harry Potter. What was he doing here?

Feet scraped in the Hallway on the other side of the door. Ludo Bagman burst through the entryway, grabbed Harry around the shoulders, and pulled him forward into the light in front of the three champions. _What was going on?_

"Extraordinary! Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen… lady. May I introduce- incredible though it may seem- the fourth Triwizard Champion?"

Cedric felt a conflict rise inside him. It was conquered, however, by a feeling of competition. They were competing again.

"Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman," Fleur smiled at him, unconvinced.

"Joke?" Bagman stared at her. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

Cedric felt his expression change to a look of bafflement. How could Harry Potter's name possibly have come out of the Goblet? He was too young.

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," She stared loathingly at Ludo Bagman. "E' cannot compete. 'E is too young."

"Well… it is amazing, but as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as his name's come out of the goblet… I mean, I don't think that there can be any ducking out at this stage… It's down in the rules, you're obliged… Harry will just have to do the best he-"

The door burst open. Professor Dumbledore, Barty Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape all walked forward. Professor McGonagall shut the door. This just kept thickening, didn't it?

"Madame Maxime," Fleur strode over to her headmistress, reminding Cedric of a small girl whose parents never say no. "Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!"

Cedric looked over to Harry. He seemed to be in a state of unfeeling, and Cedric felt pity for him. Harry was certainly most not a little boy.

Madame Maxime turned on Professor Dumbledore. "What is ze meaing of zis, Dumbly-dorr?"

"I'd rather like to know that myself Dumbledore," He stared at Dumbledore with a cold look. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions- or have I not read the rules carefully enough?"

Madame Maxime's hand rested on Fleur's shoulder as she muttered something in French. "'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. It is most unjust."

Karkaroff continued to glare at Dumbledore. "We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore, otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

Professor Snape stepped forward. "It's no one's fault but Potter's, Karkaroff" He stared contemptuously at Harry. What did Harry ever do to him? "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here-"

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore silenced Snape. He turned to Harry lovingly. "Did you put your name into the Goblet of fire, Harry?"

"No," Harry stated simply.

Cedric did not know why, but instinctively, he believed him, even though his mind told him otherwise.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" Dumbledore continued.

"No," Harry stated again, persistent.

"Ah, but of course 'e is lying!" Madame Maxime called out.

"He could not have crossed the Age Line," Professor McGonagall said. "I am sure we are all agreed on that-"

"Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake wiz ze line," Madame Maxime continued to press the issue.

"It is possible, of course," Cedric could have sworn he caught the briefest glimpse of an innocent smile flick across Dumbledore's face.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" Professor McGonagall said irately. "really, what nonsense! Harry could not have crossed the line himself, and as Professor Dumbledore believes he did not persuade an older student to do it for him, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else.

Karkaroff turned to the other two Ministry representatives. "Mr. Crouch… Mr. Bagman, you are our er- objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular."

Cedric looked over to the sickly Mister Crouch. "We must follow the rules, and the rules clearly state that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Well, Barty knows the rulebook back to front," Bagman said genially.

Karkaroff continued to persist. "I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students. You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," Insisted Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out-it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament."

Karkaroff lost it. "In which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing! After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave right now!"

A voice came from the darkened doorway "Empty threat Karkaroff. You can't leave you champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

"Convenient?" Karkaroff looked at Professor Moody with a look of total loathing. "I'm afraid I don't understand you Moody."

"Don't you?" Moody continued, clunking his way to the fireplace. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out."

Cedric began to tune the older wizards out. This was getting ridiculous. It didn't change anything. Harry would compete no matter what the outcome. These people just kept making excuses that attempted to tip things into their favor. They had begun acting like children. He, instead, focused on Harry. Harry seemed to be undergoing an absence of emotion. How did he enter his name into the Goblet? Had he just lied to Dumbledore? Was he seriously that starved for attention that he would break about fifty school rules and alienate their guests, all for the sake of more glory?

No, Cedric told himself. That didn't sound like Harry. Cedric knew him well enough to know Harry didn't need this tournament to make himself sound spectacular. Moody did have a point. Something was seriously wrong here. He looked back at the adults; Moody seemed to be explaining a conspiracy theory involving Harry and a fourth school. Cedric figured that if these moderators had been any younger, they would have broken into a full-fledged fistfight.

Eventually, Professor Dumbledore managed to silence them and quell the arguments. Bagman, who seemed completely in favor of Harry competing in the tournament, wrung his hands together greedily. "Well, shall we crack on, then? Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

"Yes," He said. "instructions. Yes… the first task…" In the firelight, Mr. Crouch looked incredibly old and ill. It was as though he hadn't slept or ate well in months. "The first task is designed to test your daring, so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage n the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard… very important. The First Task will take place on November the twenty-fourth in front of the other students and the panel of judges."

Mr. Crouch continued. "The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

He paused with a touch of finality in his voice. Cedric noted that he seemed finished and contemplated the situation. He didn't need to take the end of term exams. He would, however, be tested for his daring. What could test his daring? He began to feel nervous for himself.

Dumbledore offered Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff to stay, but they were already leaving, students in tow. Dumbledore sighed.

"Harry, Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed. I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

Harry looked over at Cedric. Cedric nodded and walked next to Harry, out of the room. They walked across the eerie flickering of the few remaining candles in the Great Hall. The thing that Cedric had been wanting to say to Harry since the goblet had declared him champion forced its way into and out of Cedric's mouth. "So," he smiled. "We're playing against each other again."

"I s'pose," Harry muttered, continuing his walk that conveyed his continual sense of unfeeling.

"So… tell me…" Cedric began again as they crossed into the Entrance Hall. "How did you get your name in?"

"I didn't," Harry stared up at in. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth."

"Ah… okay," Cedric looked at him. He didn't believe him entirely, but a little voice in the back of his head knew Harry _was _telling the truth. "Well… see you then."

Cedric headed towards the door leading to the Hufflepuff corridor. He shook his head. He was a Hogwarts Champion! He was going to compete against the likes of Viktor Krum and Harry Potter. A cold feeling of anticipation shot through his veins as he walked up to the marble badger.

"Fruit Bat."

The Badger twirled off the pedestal and bowed low. "Congratulations." It muttered.

Cedric stepped inside and a boom blasted outwards, making him look into the Common Room. What seemed like every last Hufflepuff screamed towards him. Sam, Olivia, and Promise all jumped onto him and clung on.

"I knew you'd do it! I knew you'd do it!" Sam screamed excitedly.

"I'm so proud of you!" Olivia yelled.

Cedric stepped in and the rest of the Common Room landed on top of him, tearing him to the ground. Cedric laughed. Justin Finch-Fletchley, landed right on top of him as the pile grew ever larger. They remained like this for some time, everyone still screaming.

Finally, they all got off of him and shouted out things.

"Congratulations, Cedric!"

"Finally! Something for us Hufflepuffs."

"And you can beat Harry Potter again like at that Quidditch match!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Cedric yelled at the person who had just shouted out. "Harry fell off his broom!"

"And he wants a rematch!" Promise put her arm around Cedric. "And that's what you'll give him!"

The whole room cheered again, but Cedric just looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Well he did cheat to get in Cedric!" She punched him in the arm and took a swig of Butterbeer. "And now you can show him who's boss for the second time."

"Don't blame him," Cedric looked at her, shocked. "It's not his fault."

"What do you mean, Cedric?" She looked at him. "Of course it's his fault! I mean, he's not even a legitimate competitor."

"Yes," Cedric looked at her. "He really is. He's going to compete, and he's in this tournament as much as I am."

The room had fallen silent.

"Cedric," Promise looked at him in disbelief. "Don't' tell me you're okay with this."

"I am," He told her. "And all of you," He shouted out to the room. "Should be okay with it too! This isn't his fault. He didn't want this."

The room burst into a buzz of chatter.

"He's endorsing him?"

"But Cedric! Come on!"

Cedric silenced them. "I expect you to show Harry Potter as much courtesy as you show me because he is also your champion."

Promise stared at him. "You're so damn noble!" She shouted at him, shoving the butterbeer bottle into his hand and stomping off to the girl's dormitories.

Olivia stared at him in disbelief, as did all of the other Hufflepuffs. "She has a point, Ced. How can you say that?"

"Because this is the Triwizard Tournament," Cedric stated. "It's nothing special."

"Nothing special?" Olivia gawked at him. "It's the glory of the whole entire school! Harry Potter's trying to steal it from you by turning it into the Tetrawizard Tournament!"

Cedric ignored the comment and handed Promise's butterbeer bottle to Sam. He turned on his heel and went to bed, fuming. How could they not understand this? He was just trying to do the right thing! They had no right to smash Harry Potter because his name magically wound up in the goblet against his will.

He closed the curtain on his four poster hangings and stared up at the ceiling. He didn't care right now, though. He was a Triwizard champion, and nothing, not even Promise's elitism or Harry Potter's entrance to the tournament could take that from him. He turned over and stared towards the wall, smiling.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own some of this dialogue, but it's necessary to review the elements of the story I'm trying to tell… Likewise, I don't own ANY of the character mentioned who appear in ANY of the Harry Potter books, and this is only my interpretation of what happened. Also please to remember: I definitely don't not own Promise, Sam, or Olivia… All that… Mine!

* * *

**Chapter 9  
****Buttons**

Cedric clamped his shoulder blades together as he sat up in his bed looking around at his four-poster hangings before smiling. The night before… A Triwizard Champion. Well, Tetrawizard Champion to be more technical. He was facing against Harry Potter, Fleur Delacour, and The Viktor Krum. He brought his arms across his chest in turn, pulling them in tightly to his chest in order to relax the muscles. He flipped the covers off his legs, exposing them to the chill of the air around him. The cool air comforted him and carried him over to his dresser and fresh robes. He stared at his Prefect's badge briefly before polishing it with the hem of his robes and pinning it on his chest. With a smile, he grabbed his wand and twirled it ceremoniously, making sure it didn't shoot off sparks, before twirling it up traditionally, catching it like a baton, and thrusting it into his pocket.

He exited the spiral staircase down to the Common Room and found it full of people clambering in from breakfast. Everyone looked up and mobbed him with cheers again, tackling him down to the ground and covering him in a fresh batch of hugs and noogies. The decorations from the night before were still on the floor, and Cedric grinned, wondering how much longer he could possibly be the cause of so much celebration.

After ten minutes, Cedric lifted the last person off his back and made for the entrance of the portrait hole and pushed it open, only to see Sam standing in front of him. She smiled at him brightly.

"Good morning!" She said brightly. "I hope you had a good sleep after last night! So, how does it feel to be the new Hogwarts Champion?"

"_A_ Hogwarts Champion," Cedric corrected her.

She beamed at him even more brilliantly. "Of course. Breakfast?"

"I'm so ready for it," He smiled at her.

"Good," She handed him a napkin full of bacon and egg sandwiches. "I made these for you. I figured you wouldn't want to go to the Hufflepuff table on account of Promise being there."

"What's up with Promise?" Cedric asked, confused.

"Oh," Sam bit her lip. "She's just a bit upset about what she calls 'your nobility.' She says she's had enough of it. She thinks that you should be the Hogwarts champion, and not Harry Potter."

Cedric rolled his eyes and sighed. "Promise. What are we going to do with her?"

"Wait until she snaps out of it?" Sam offered.

"Of course," Cedric smiled. "She'll understand eventually. What did you have planned for today?"

"I'm not sure," Sam headed out into the hallway, not wanting to block the Hufflepuffs all patting Cedric on the back as they entered the common room. "I was thinking we could just walk around for a while. Olivia's off practicing Quidditch and teaching some seconds years how to fly, and Promise mentioned something about keeping you away from her. So it looks like it's just us."

Cedric smiled. If anything could seal his day and make it better after the loss of Promise, it was Sam, and they were going to spend the whole day together.

The day passed far too quickly. The two skipped lunch entirely on accident, as they spent most of the day walking the edge of the lake, the two of them both discussing a potential swim in the future. Other than that, their conversation topics were both endless and relatively unimportant. Unimportant, that is, to any other person who happened to catch the snippets of their conversation. Cedric reveled in the different things that came up, which varied all the way from the giant squid, to Quidditch, to socks.

The dinner and night's homework were quite quiet. Most of the Hufflepuffs continued celebrating Cedric as their champion, but most of the conversation dropped when it turned to Harry Potter. Hadn't Cedric told him that he was looking forward to facing Harry as a Champion? After an hour of very slow Arithmancy homework, Cedric snapped his book shut, said goodnight to Sam, and turned to Promise, who remained deep in conversation with Olivia across a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. Cedric caught Olivia's attention, and bid her goodnight, but did not wait around after Promise refused to look up.

* * *

Cedric stretched early the next morning, headed down the staircase to the Common Room, and found Olivia and Sam sitting in armchairs, reading the prior evening's _Evening Prophet_. They folded the paper and put it away as Cedric walked down the stairs.

"Hullo!" Olivia beamed cheerily. "Long time no talk to."

"No kidding," Cedric smiled. "How are you?"

"Not as good as you, Hogwarts Champion."

Cedric grinned sheepishly. "It's really not that big a deal."

Sam looked at Olivia in a very I-Told-You-So manner before turning back to Cedric. "Breakfast then?"

"Of course," Cedric smiled, and the three of them exited the Common Room and headed towards the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was abuzz with chatter. The three walked in just as the owls entered from the ceiling. Olivia smiled as a small, screech owl landed on her arm and stuck out its leg, nibbling her ear affectionately.

"What's that?" Cedric asked as they went to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.

"Letter?" Olivia quipped sarcastically.

"I know that," Cedric chuckled. "But who's it from?"

"A secret admirer?" Sam grinned and punched her friend playfully on the shoulder.

"Nah," Olivia smiled. "It's a friend I have from Massachusetts. I met him at the Quidditch World Cup."

Sam raised her eyebrows and gave several melodramatically slow nods. "So it _is_ a secret admirer."

"Is not!" Olivia lowered her face, trying to hide her red cheeks.

Sam giggled slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cuz you'd laugh at me."

Sam stopped laughing. "No I wouldn't."

"It's not a big deal," Cedric smiled at Olivia. "Don't worry about it. I had a pen pal from Texas once. Weird girl. Had the most obnoxious barn owl. I couldn't stand it. Always came covered in hay, screeched all the time, and it wouldn't leave until I gave a response. Drove my parents nutters!"

Olivia and Sam laughed as they continued to eat their breakfast.

Promise left the table before Cedric did, meaning Cedric would walk to Advanced Arithmancy alone. That was the idea, anyway. No sooner had he stood up from the table than he found himself surrounded by every other Hufflepuff Sixth year taking Advanced Arithmancy. By the time he had left the hall, nearly every other Sixth year taking Advanced Arithmancy was traveling with him.

"Morning, Ced!"

How's it going, Champ?"

Cedric realized as he began to trek up the marble staircase that just about every single student who could follow him was following him.

"What are you going to do for the first task? Cedric! Cedric!"

"Will you sign your bag for me Ced? Will you? Please?"

"Better you than Potter."

Cedric whirled around. A Sixth year Slytherin named Montague was walking with him to Arithmancy. "What'd you say?"

"I said that you're a better champion than Potter could ever hope to be."

"Harry has as much of a right to be in this tournament as me, or Fleur Delacour or Viktor Krum."

Montague laughed and continued on towards the Arithmancy classroom. Cedric took a deep breath and sighed. Why couldn't they understand that Cedric was actually looking forward to competing with Harry again? He managed to cool himself down before he entered the Arithmancy Classroom. He looked around for Promise, but she was deep in conversation with another Sixth year Ravenclaw.

Unwilling to disrupt Promise while she was being angsty, Cedric took a seat on the opposite side of the class as Professor Vector began her lecture.

The weeks passed the same way. Cedric and his entourage continued to show up just as the bell rang and Promise always managed to be in her seat or in an hard to travel, nearby location, always deep in conversation with another sixth year. Cedric spent his time with Sam and Olivia in the Common Room during the many hours of homework he had.

Then, one day, as Cedric left the Great Hall on his way to Charms, he noticed a button with red letters pinned onto the chest of many Slytherins, a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and no Gryffindors. A sudden, ominous feeling struck him. Something told him to refrain from reading the button. Just then, however, Montague bounded up, as though he had just realized the solution to all of his problems.

"You like 'em?" He asked, smiling his greasy smile.

Cedric read the button's red writing:

**Support Cedric Diggory  
****The REAL Hogwarts Champion.**

"You like 'em Cedric?" Montague smirked. Since when were they on a first name basis? "And then if you push in on them, they change!" Montague pushed the button in and the red letters swirled to green.

**Potter Stinks**

Cedric stared at the words in shock. That had to be the meanest thing he had ever read. He had told all of the Hufflepuffs to behave nicer to Harry since the Goblet Of Fire spit his name out, but they couldn't help themselves, so he had dealt with it. This, though… there was no excuse for this.

"What is that?"

"It's the new Hogwarts badge," Montague continued his grin. "Like I said, what do you think?"

"I think you're an ignorant moron."

Montague stared at Cedric, but Cedric failed to care. He turned around without so much as another word and continued down the corridors to the Charms classroom.

He knew Montague's words shouldn't upset him too much. He was a Slytherin, the best of the breed. An ignorant jerk who didn't know anything and hated Harry Potter because Harry had defeated the best of them all: You-Know-Who.

He was so infuriated at the nerve of the Slytherins that he didn't even realize that he had, out of complete reflex, sat right night to Promise, who was deep in conversation with a sixth year Slytherin.

"I can't believe it," Cedric ranted out of pure habit. "How can people be so incredibly house-oriented towards this whole issue? Why can't people just accept that Harry has my full endorsement to be in the tournament?"

Promise looked over at him slowly, her eyes on the far edge of her eyes, making her look menacing. Cedric forced back a wince. _First rule when Promise is mad at you: Never interrupt an attempt to make her look like she doesn't care._ Cedric continued to stare her down, regardless. This had gone on long enough. He attempted to continue eye contact, but something red on her robes caught his eye. He looked down and nearly lost it.

There, on Promise's chest was one of the horrible Slytherin "Support Cedric Diggory" badges.

"I'm sorry Cedric," She said very formally, careful to give an air of aloof airiness. "Were you saying something?" She pushed the button in and it swirled to say, "Potter stinks."

Cedric swallowed. "No. It was nothing. Nothing at all. I just wanted to tell you how disappointed I was at 'my adoring fans' for not accepting my wishes. You'd think a friend would stand by me when I needed that friend by my side."

"That's the problem with you, Cedric," Promise continued her aloofness as she polished her button with her breath. "You have absolutely no concept of just how much this means to Hufflepuffs. You're so wrapped up in your own sense of honor you don't listen to the rest of us. We never get the glory. You're the first person to give it to us since we've been here. Now, we've been shot down by the one person in this school who doesn't need more attention: Harry Potter."

"He didn't want this," Cedric said. "Why would anyone want this much attention?"

"Because he's famous and he's starving for it. He can never get enough." She stood up, picked up her bag, and moved to the other side of the classroom, leaving Cedric to sit alone for a grand total of twelve point eight seconds, after which three other Hufflepuffs sat next to him without so much as asking him if it was alright.

The rest of the day continued slowly until Defense Against the Dark Arts later that afternoon. Halfway into the class, Ernie McMillan walked in and muttered something to Professor Moody.

"Diggory," Moody barked. "You're being beckoned to the traditional Weighing of the Wands ceremony. Take your stuff. You will not be returning."

"Yes sir," Cedric nodded. He hastily packed his bag and followed Ernie McMillan out of the room, students patting him on the back and shouting congratulations as he exited. "So, any idea what this is all about?" He asked Ernie after several minutes.

"Not a clue. I know that it involves the four champions. You need to have your wand examined for the first task."

Cedric, who had instinctively been looking for the badge on most people's robes for most of the day, spotted the red letters on Ernie almost at once. "Hey, Ernie?"

"Yeah, Cedric?"

"Would you mind taking that badge off and telling anyone who'll listen to chuck 'em down the drain?"

"Why?"

"Remember what I said about Harry Potter on the night both our names came out of the Goblet?"

"Yeah," Ernie shrugged. "Why?"

"That's why. That badge isn't right. It isn't fair. Harry's your champion as much as I am."

"But you're in-"

"Your house, I know, but it still doesn't mean you should bash Harry every chance you get."

Ernie hung his head in shame. "Sorry I let you down, Cedric."

"You didn't let me down," Cedric smiled. "You just weren't thinking, and now think nothing of this."

"Deal," Ernie smiled back as he pushed open the door to a classroom. "See you at dinner?"

"Count on it."

Cedric entered the classroom to see Fleur standing near Krum. Both looked put out, but for different reasons. Krum looked annoyed that Fleur was trying to talk to him, and Fleur looked annoyed that Krum wouldn't talk back. When Cedric entered though, Fleur shrugged Krum off almost instantly, floating over to Cedric in the hopes that he would talk to her.

"Hello," She beamed brightly as she approached him, flipping her hair.

Cedric felt a twinge of the Veela charm Fleur constantly exerted and a vision of Sam flashed across his mind. "Good afternoon, how are you?"

"Beautiful," Fleur smiled at him.

Another pang, another flash, and all was back and right with the world again.

"Eet's just terrible talkeeng to heem," She looked over at Krum in a very forced, unconvincing sympathetic look. "Hee's vehry anti-social."

"Really?" Cedric looked over at Krum. Besides the surly, harsh looks, Cedric was very sure Krum was a really nice, friendly person deep down. "What makes you say that?"

"'Ave you ever talked to 'eem?" Fleur looked at him flirtatiously.

Pang. Flash. Reality.

Cedric panned the room to keep his eyes off Fleur's face and hair. A woman with blonde hair and horn rimmed glasses stood in the corner with Ludo Bagman. A photographer standing near the blonde woman was looking over at Cedric and Fleur. No. It wasn't Cedric and Fleur. He was focused on… Cedric shifted his gaze to match the line of the photographer's. Fleur? The photographer's eyes had landed on Fleur?

"You know that guy's staring at you, right?" Cedric asked Fleur, trying to inconspicuously point out the photographer.

She turned around indiscreetly. She sighed. "What can I say? I won't tell 'im."

"Why not?" Cedric asked incredulously.

"Really, Mister Diggory," Hair flip, pang, flash, reality. "If I were to tell every boy who stared at me to stop, zat's all I would do for ze rest of my life. So I just let zem watch. I have a 'look but don't touch' policy."

Cedric raised his eyebrows as Harry Potter walked in the door. He was tempted to give Harry a wave, but refrained at the last second when Ludo Bagman diverted his attention by striding forward and greeting Harry jovially. Cedric couldn't quite make out what Bagman was saying, but noticed that the woman with horn-rimmed glasses walked up behind them both. Fleur began another rant about Harry's age and how much he should not be allowed in the Tournament, but Cedric didn't pay any attention to her. The last thing he wanted was to alienate one of the champions. He merely went along with what she was saying and took an impassive stance in everything she said.

After a few quick exchanges of conversation, Cedric watched as the blonde reporter pulled Harry out of the room by the back of his robes and down the corridor, out of sight.

"Where is he goin?" Cedric asked, interrupting Fleur's rant.

Fleur stopped midsentence. If she had any qualms about him interrupting her she didn't show it. She was obviously so glad to have him talk back that she didn't seem to care that he wasn't even listening to her. "Who cares?. Hopefully he will miss ze weighing and won't be able to compete." She looked positively gleeful at the thought.

Cedric refrained from rolling his eyes and instead changed the subject. "What do you think the first task is?"

"No idea," Fleur seemed to not notice the topic change. "Wish I knew though. It would make whatever is coming at us zat much easier to confront."

Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime walked in wearing very fake looking smiles, pretending to enjoy each other's company. The second they saw their champions, however, they whisked them away and began rapidly talking to them.

Cedric shrugged and looked out the window, watching the silent, tranquil grounds. Down near the Quidditch Pitch he saw several first year students on a flying lesson rise high and then drop. A few seconds later, they traveled slowly around in a circle, led by Madame Hooch.

"Ms. Delacour, Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore's voice came from the doorway. "If you would please gather around?"

Cedric turned around to see the very old Mr. Ollivander standing by his side. Smiling, Cedric began to walk towards Dumbledore.

"It seems," Dumbledore paused, counting the Champions in the room. "That we are missing a Champion. Can anyone tell me where Harry went?"

"I 'ave not seen him, Professor," Fleur shrugged.

"He went off with that reporter," Cedric told him.

"Thank you Mister Diggory," Dumbledore smiled, twinkling his eyes at Cedric. "If you will excuse me, I must find our fourth Champion." He left the room, leaving them all standing around awkwardly doing nothing.

Cedric bounced from the heels to the balls of his feet as he walked awkwardly to one of the four chairs nearest the door. Fleur sat next to him. He stared up at the purple judges table, behind which Madame Maxime, Professor Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman, and, to Cedric's astonishment, Barty Crouch had all taken their seats. When had he walked in? It was as if he had ghosted his way behind the table.

What seemed like an instant later, Harry strode back into the room and took a seat at the desk next to Cedric. The reporter walked in several seconds later, followed by Dumbledore.

"May I introduce, Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore asked them all politely. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

Cedric looked around to see that Mr. Ollivander had taken his position next to the window that Cedric had been staring out of just a minute earlier. He seemed older than when Cedric had first met him and, from the look on his face, Cedric guessed this was one of the first times he had seen daylight in many, many years.

Mr. Ollivander stepped into the empty space in the middle of the room. "Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first please?" Amazing. He had transformed from dream-like Mr. Ollivander into the persona Cedric knew so well. The one that he had met years ago at Diagon Alley. The dry humored, yet somehow youthful Mr. Ollivander.

Fleur stepped forward and presented her wand to Mr. Ollivander. He twirled it with his fingers expertly, somehow controlling the sparks to emit different colors without thinking. Cedric just stared. True, he could twirl his wand and not emit sparks, but how could Mr. Ollivander emit choice sparks at will. Cedric smiled to himself. Years of practice.

"Yes," He said, almost understanding Fleur's wand on level no one else could. "Nine and a half inches… inflexible… rosewood… and containing… dear me…"

Fleur interrupted him. "An 'air from ze 'ead of a Veela. One of my granmuzzer's."

"Yes," Mr. Ollivander seemed to question the abilities of a wand with such a core. "Yes, I've never used Veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands… However, to each his own, and if this suits you…" His voice trailed off as he finished examining the wand. "_Orchideous_!" A bouquet of flowers sprouted from the tip of the wand. "Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," He scooped up the flowers and handed them to Fleur. "Mr. Diggory, you next."

Cedric stood up and passed Fleur as he made for Mr. Ollivander. She flashed him a token Veela smile. He tried to avoid it, but felt the pang of seduction. Sam flashed across his eyes once again, the Quidditch match this time. He awoke back in reality an instant later. He handed his wand to Mr. Ollivander.

"Ah, now this is one of mine, isn't it?"

Cedric had to keep his jaw from dropping. The wand had barely touched his hands and Mr. Ollivander recognized it as his own. "Yes, I remember it well. Containing a single fair from the tail of a particularly fine male unicorn… Must have been seventeen hands; nearly gored me with his horn after I plucked his tail. Twelve and a quarter inches… Ash… Pleasantly springy. It's in fine condition… You treat it regularly?"

"Polished it last night," Cedric let a grin crack his face. It was sheer luck that he had chosen last night of all nights for his bimonthly wand polishing.

Mr. Ollivander set silver smoke rings across the room as something that sounded like sparks came from behind Cedric. He was tempted to turn around, but, because it would have been rude to Mr. Ollivander, refrained. Mr. Ollivander returned Cedric's wand and called Krum to present his wand. Krum, as usual, handed over his wand and looked at Mr. Ollivander with a slight scowl.

"Hmmm," Said Mr. Ollivander. "This is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm very much mistaken? A fine wand-maker, thought the styling is never quite what I… however…" He pulled the wand level with his eye. "Yes… hornbeam and dragon heartstring? Rather thicker than one usually sees… quite rigid… ten and a quarter inches… _Avis_!"

Birds twittered out of the wand and out into the blue sky of the Hogwarts grounds. He handed Krum back his wand and called up Harry. "Ahhh, yes," His eyes gleamed as he examined Harry's wand. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

Cedric looked up, intrigued. Mr. Ollivander claimed that he remembered every wand that he had ever sold, and Cedric believed it, especially after all he had witnessed with Mr. Ollivander in this room, but Mr. Ollivander seemed almost overly intrigued about Harry's wand. But why? What made Harry's wand so special? Mr. Ollivander took extra time examining Harry's wand, but not for its contents. Within the first few seconds of holding the wand examining, he had said: "Phoenix tail feather, holly, eleven inches."

Eventually, he snapped out of his reverie and handed it back to Harry after shooting a fountain of wine out of it.

Dumbledore stood up as Harry returned to his seat. "Thank you all. You may go back to your lessons now or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end ."

Cedric stood up, anxious to talk to Harry about the Support Cedric Diggory Badges. But just as Cedric was about to begin talking to Harry, three people began to give subtle outbursts that all revolved around taking the photographs of the four champions.

The photographs took forever. The reporter, infatuated with Harry, kept pushing _him _towards the front while the photographer, infatuated with Fleur, kept pushing _Fleur _to the front. In the end, the photographer made Madame Maxime was sit down with everyone around her, and Cedric was pushed to the back. That was okay though. This photograph didn't mean anything.

Finally, after they had taken the group picture, the reporter insisted on regal looking individual shots. Cedric couldn't help but roll his eyes. Unfortunately, however, Harry's photograph was the first, and he didn't wait around for Cedric, leaving instead for the Great Hall and dinner. Cedric sighed as they took an individual photograph of him, not caring how he posed.

He sat down next to Sam and Olivia at the Hufflepuff table five minutes later.

"And where have you been?" Olivia asked indignantly. "You know we've been worried sick about you?"

"They were taking photographs," Cedric said unenthusiastically.

"That's exciting!" Sam smiled. "Don't make that sound like it's not a big deal!"

"It's really not," Cedric shrugged. "There were people there from _The Daily Prophet_, they whisked Harry away somewhere."

Sam seemed as though she did not hear this comment, instead, dipping into her bag to find something. "Guess what I got today. You're going to love it."

"What?" Cedric asked.

She pulled out a "Support Cedric Diggory" button.

"Throw it out," Cedric said to her without making eye contact.

"Why? It says 'support you.'"

Cedric pushed the button in Sam's palm. It turned to green and read "Potter Stinks."

"That is why I told you to throw it away. He has my full endorsement in this."

Sam looked at him peculiarly. She seemed to sympathize with both Promise and Cedric at the same time, hating him for being so noble, but loving him even more for it. "All you had to do was ask," She smiled. She turned around and chucked the button clear across the Great Hall, where it landed in a cauldron of stew at the Slytherin table. She looked at Cedric and smiled triumphantly, wiping her hands of the deed.

"What's on the agenda tonight?"

That question bogged Cedric every night for two weeks as he waited for the next Hogsmeade weekend. It quite simply couldn't come soon enough. Promise wasn't talking to him and he had no idea what to do for the First Task. There was no way to prepare for it and Cedric knew that. The prospect of facing the unknown, however, clouded his mind. He often tried to talk to Promise when he could, but she always looked at him with her eyebrows raised, as though she had expected something better of him, and she flashed the green of her "Potter Stinks" badge.

Cedric would have gladly turned away all of the ever-increasing number of spectators just to have things be normal again. Sam and Olivia divided their time between Cedric and Promise. Every so often, one of them would repeat Promise's offer to forget the whole thing as long as Cedric renounced Harry Potter's legitimacy at being Hogwarts Champion.

As though Cedric thought Promise couldn't alienate the situation more, the appearance of the Daily Prophet article four days after the weighing of the wand ceremony exacerbated the situation more than Cedric could have imagined. The entire school had been thrown into an uproar at the thought of Rita Skeeter, the Daily Prophet reporter Cedric had seen at the ceremony, making it sound as though Harry was the main attraction of the Tournament. Every time Cedric looked at Harry, his heart went out to him. Harry always took flying insults from the Slytherins alone, but now Ravenclaws and even some Hufflepuffs quoted the article at him.

Promise, who according to Olivia, had read the article through once, skimming for Cedric's name, saw it as the final straw and lit it on fire with her wand. When Cedric didn't say a single thing about the article and its injustice in making Harry sound like the only Champion, she stopped having anything to do with him. She locked herself in her room and never studied in the Common Room any more.

* * *

At long last, the Hogsmeade weekend came. Sam told Cedric that Promise would be off traveling with a group of Ravenclaw girls, including Cho Chang, who, since his name had come out of the Goblet, kept flashing Cedric very flirtatious, seductive looks whenever they came anywhere remotely close to looking in the same direction.

"We'll have fun," Sam nudged Cedric as they headed down the drive to the entrance of the Castle.

"I know we will," Cedric muttered as they turned down the road to the villiage.

And it was very true. It wasn't that Cedric doubted his ability to have fun, especially in the company of Sam and Olivia. The problem was geared more towards the fact that this would be the first time that Cedric went to Hogsmeade without Promise. She always made the trips fun. She would choose the best candies at Honeyduke's and funniest jokes at Zonko's. She always had something interesting and humorous to say about The Shrieking Shack. One time, they even went into the Hog's Head Pub, rented a room, sat up in their room for hours talking, and whenever they saw a fellow Hogwarts student walk by, they would make an odd, creepy sound like a man choking and attempting to scream for help in an effort to get the student to run away.

"Cheer up, Cedric!" Olivia patted him roughly on the back.

Cedric gave them a weak smile as they entered the villiage.

The three first went to Honeyduke's and bought more chocolate than any of them could have eaten…ever. They bought so much, in fact, that Cedric had to ask for a special box for augmenting the life of chocolate, just so it would never go bad.

Cedric didn't spend as much time in Zonko's as he usually would have. It was too difficult to remember that whenever Promise was there, she would always make up the craziest schemes based on the combinations of the old supplies and the new material that had come into Zonko's over the summer.

Finally, they stopped off in The Three Broomsticks and took off their bags. Cedric spent several minutes looking at the new one his parents had bought him for becoming Hogwarts Champion while he waited for their drinks. It had been weeks, but he enjoyed its texture and its strength. They ordered lunch and sat around the table for several hours, working on various homework assignments and discussing the latest ideas they had for the Triwizard Tournament. This, too, made Cedric feel uneasy. Promise would have made it all better if only she were talking to him. She would probably have come up with increasingly more difficult and ridiculous tasks like "cutting down a tree while keeping a pack of impish werewolves at bay with nothing but an umbrella and a trash can lid."

Cedric sighed and took a final swig of Butterbeer. He packed up his Transfiguration homework and left the Three Broomsticks with Sam and Olivia.

* * *

One day until the First Task, Cedric was walking with several of his admirers on the way to Charms when his bag split for no apparent reason. The contents of his bag spilled out. Parchment, quills, and books fell noisily onto the floor. Ink bottles smashed, covering his materials in splashes of pink, blue, and green ink.

Desperate to get some breathing room in a hallway for once, Cedric waved all of the spectators off. "Don't bother. Tell Flitwick I'm coming, go on."

Cedric picked up his new bag and looked at it, slightly hurt. His parents had paid good money for this bag. What could have broken it?

He practiced one of his non-verbal spells and waved his wand, yet the bag still did nothing. He looked down at the mess on the ground. How was he going to clean this up?

He looked to the end of the corridor, where the last of his admirers had just entered the classroom. Some friends they were when it came down to it…

Footsteps came down the hallway towards him as he picked up his copy of _A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_. "Hi. My bag just split…" He attempted to explain the mess looking up. "Brand-new and all…"

It was Harry Potter.

But it wasn't Harry Potter, not how he normally looked anyway. He looked sick and pale, and his eyes gave away the thought that he had not slept well in two days. Cedric turned back to picking up what was left of his supplies.

"Cedric," Harry said slowly, as though he was doubting what he was really going to say what he was about to say. "The first task is dragons."

Cedric's skin rippled, giving and instant of goose bumps all along his arms and neck as he looked at Harry. "What?"

"Dragons," Harry said simply, but quickly this time. "They've got four, once for each of us, and we've got to get past time."

Cedric felt the skin on his face shrivel, and a shiver went down his spine. He let his eyes slide out of focus. _Dragons. Dragons? Dragons_! "Are you sure?" Cedric heard his voice come from a far off, distant land.

"Dead sure. I've seen them."

Cedric wished he hadn't said the word dead. "But how did you find out? We're not supposed to know…"

"Never mind, but I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now- Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."

Cedric stood up, every last school supply in his arms, but he knew he would drop them at any second. "Why are you telling me?"

"It's just… fair, isn't it?" He said. "We all know now… we're on an even footing, aren't we?"

Was this his idea of a sick joke?

_Klunk. Klunk. Klunk_. Cedric looked past Harry to see Professor Mad-Eye Moody in front of him. Now they were in trouble. Dragons and Moody, all in twenty four hours.

"Come with me, Potter," Moody growled. "Diggory, off you go."

Cedric swallowed deeply, turned around, and headed toward the Charms classroom, but he didn't stop at the Charms classroom. He walked. He just walked and didn't want to turn around.

Dragons.

Were they mad? They would kill him!

Dragons.

He found the nearest restroom four corridors away from the Charms classroom and pushed the door open. He dropped his supplies on the sink, forced his way to one of the stalls, pushed open the door, and threw his head into the toilet, emptying the contents of his stomach into the bowl. When he had finished a minute later, he put his hands on his knees and took in deep, cleansing breaths.

_Come on Cedric. Pull yourself together. You can do it. Deal with it. Swallow your pride and ask for help. Ask anyone and everyone you can. You need a way to stop a dragon, or at least get past it long enough to deal with it._

He stepped out of the stall and wiped his mouth with his thumb and index finger.

Dragons.

He turned around vomited into the bowl again, shivered, stood up straight, and went to the sink. He turned on the tap and washed his hands, cool water feeling lukewarm against his clammy hands. He splashed water onto his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He took several more deep breaths. He looked sick. He looked tired. He looked completely ready to just pass out.

Dragons.

He gagged slightly, but kept himself from throwing up again. He stared at himself in the mirror. This would not beat him. This could not beat him. If Harry Potter could look this in the eye and be cool, calm, and collected, so could he.

Cedric left ran his books on the sink and sprinted the length of the corridor back to the Charms classroom, where Professor Flitwick had his back to Cedric, and shoved aside the sixth year Gryffindor in the seat next to Promise.

"Promise," Cedric panted. "I need your help."

To his astonishment, Promise spoke to him. "Are you alright, Ced? You look like someone died." Promise felt his face with the back of her hands. "And you're cold and clammy. What's wrong?"

"I think that's me," Cedric panted even more. "I just talked to Harry Potter in the corridor."

Promise bristled. She pulled out her wand and conjured up a cup of tea.

"No," Cedric demanded of her. "Now is not a good time for this. You need to forget this whole thing right now because he just saved my neck."

Promise looked at him skeptically. "What'd he feed you?"

"He told me what the first task is."

Promise's ears pricked, but drooped an instant later to make it sound like she didn't seem interested. "And, what did he say?" She took a sip of tea.

"I have to face a dragon."

Promise spit out the tea all over the parchment on the desk in front of her. "What?"

Cedric swallowed. "Yeah. I did the same thing, I just threw up in the bathroom a minute ago."

"And how do you plan to get past it?"

"That's why I need your help," Cedric pleaded with her.

She chuckled out and breathed heavily in short, shallow breaths. She unpinned the "Potter Stinks" badge from her chest, and threw it in the trashcan on the other side of the classroom, landing it perfectly in the bin.

"I'm in."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Cedric, or the fact that he got burned… Personally, I kinda wish he'd gotten perfect tens… actually… no… but that's not the point. Point is I don't own him, nor Harry Potter, nor the dragons or nothing else… But Promise and Sam and Olivia and all that? So good. Why? Cuz it's mine!

**

* * *

Chapter 10  
The Dog And The Dragon**

Cedric paced around the empty Charms classroom aimlessly. Dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons. What could he possibly do to get past a dragon? It was impossible. No way could he, a sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect, successfully face a full-grown, fire-breathing dragon. A dragon! The mere thought made him nauseous again.

"For the millionth time, can you please stop that?" Promise complained at him from the low cushion chair she had conjured a half-hour before. "You're starting to drive up _my_ nerves, and I'm not even facing a…" Her voice trailed off.

"Mine too," Olivia chimed in, not taking her eyes off a point on the ceiling.

"Not to mention me," Sam said dryly from the chair Promise had conjured for her. Cedric chanced a glance over at her. She had gone completely white, and those four words had been the only ones she had uttered since hearing that Cedric would be facing a dragon. She stared at a point on the ground, unmoving. Catatonic.

"Sorry," Cedric quipped sarcastically. "But I personally find it amazingly difficult to sit down at a time like this. In case you didn't hear, I'm going to-"

"Have to face a Dragon," Promise nodded, looking at Cedric inquisitively. "We know, and we're trying to help, but some of us like to actually sit down and relax, knowing full well exactly what's coming. See, the thing is," She pulled a sandwich off of a hovering platter she had snagged from the Hufflepuff table. She agreed to help Cedric, but, of course, food came first.

"What did he say to you?" Olivia asked him, attempting to kill time.

"I have to get past it," Cedric shivered at the thought. The feeling of throwing up entered his stomach again. A dragon? Yeah, that certainly tested his daring.

"And that's it?" Olivia inquired.

"Of course that's it," Cedric snapped, cracking slightly under the pressure. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Sorry, I'm just a little bit testy right now. I'm under a tiny bit of pressure here."

"It's perfectly alright," Olivia gave him a grim smile. "I understand. Well, actually, I don't understand. But I'm freaking out here too."

"I think we're all freaking out here," Promise gave Sam a concerned look and took a huge bite out of her sandwich.

"So I have to get past it," Cedric resumed pacing and muttering to himself again. "But how could I get past a dragon?"

"You could distract it," Sam mentioned offhandedly.

Olivia, Promise, and Cedric all looked over to Sam, awestruck.

"What did you say?" Promise asked her.

Sam, however, remained silent, continuing to stare fixedly at the point on the ground. After several seconds, she looked up at everyone. "What?"

"What did you just say?" Cedric asked urgently.

Sam blushed. "Nothing important. It was stupid, really."

"No," Promise smiled in disbelief and stood up, beginning to pace in a burst of thought. "That sounded like a great idea. A distraction. What's the best way to get past anything? Make sure you won't be seen. Invisibility cloaks won't work because dragons have an fantastic sense of smell among other things. Therefore, we have to come up with a new way for the dragon to not pay attention to you. Any way we could do that?"

"We could…" Olivia's voice trailed off as she shook her head. "Sorry, I have nothing."

"Is there a potion that will do that?" Cedric asked. "After all the stuff I've seen in potions I don't believe there's a potion out there that doesn't exist."

"It'd be a complicated potion," Promise shook her head. "We couldn't make anything that powerful in less than twenty four hours, much less be able to produce it in mass quantities. It's no good."

"What about another animal?" Sam suggested, now slightly more in touch with reality.

"All hail the Idea Queen," Promise smirked, impressed.

"But where would we get another animal that's willing to stand up to a fully fledged dragon?" Sam asked, doubting her own idea.

"Well, I can only think of four animals on this planet willing to go head to head with a dragon," Promise confessed. "And three of them aren't going to help you because they're already focused on getting past another dragon themselves, and we can rule out you on the sheer principle of you're the one we're trying to keep the dragon away from."

"What about your wand?" Olivia suggested. "I remember on the first day of Transfiguration Professor McGonagall transfigured her desk into a pig. Can't you do that sort of stuff? I know that a few weeks ago you two turned your desks into a pair of very promiscuous deer."

An incredibly uncomfortable silence filled the room as the four of them each took in the exact mental picture Olivia had just painted. For the first time in hours, the picture drove the thought of the dragon from Cedric's mind entirely. Promise released a fake gag to break the silence.

"You ever say that again, and I'll turn _you_ into a promiscuous deer," Promise threatened Olivia.

"My bad," Olivia looked both ways awkwardly. "But they were!"

"What did I just say?"

"Sorry."

So they set to work. For the remaining five minutes of lunch Cedric began changing everything in the room into every possible animal they could think of. They quickly ruled out anything smaller than a large cat. This narrowed the field as Cedric quickly discovered that he could not create anything larger than an incredibly small cow.

"That's alright though," Promise shrugged. "The goal is to get the animal to dodge and evade the dragon, not to lumber around slowly, get eaten, and then hope Cedric doesn't have the same fate."

"You're not helping," Cedric muttered as he focused his energy into turning the desk into a deer.

"I like it," Sam said. "I just don't think it'd do much. We need the animal to attract the dragon's attention so it'll completely forget about you. A deer would just bound off into the stands, which would be a waste of time."

The bell rang.

"We'll think about it," Sam promised.

"We'll tell you if we think of anything specific," Olivia smiled weakly.

Promise put her hand on Cedric's back. "Don't worry, Ced," She patted his back encouragingly and took a large bite of her last sandwich. "I think you can do it."

"Thanks, Promise" Cedric smiled back at her. "I hope I can get through this too."

"Actually," She picked up her bag with one hand. "I was referring to transfiguring the animal. I never said anything about you actually not getting eaten." She smiled and forced the rest of her sandwich into her mouth with her thumb. "Ready for Professor Moody?"

"I dunno," Cedric shrugged. "I might be in trouble, because he caught Harry Potter telling me about the dragons. We'll see what happens."

* * *

To his amazement, nothing did happen. Professor Moody never even acknowledged that Cedric attended his class. He just continued on with his day as thought nothing had transpired.

Promise and Cedric took the opportunity to brainstorm more animal ideas. Cedric began to feel better, but only slightly. This idea was very last minute and iffy at best. At long last, they decided to settle upon the largest dog Cedric could think of. Unfortunately, even though Moody had transfigured Draco Malfoy into a ferret once, he prohibited the use of non defense-against-the-dark-arts magic in his classroom. Prepared to skive off another meal, Cedric began to pore over his Transfiguration notes, careful to follow the different movements when transforming the same object into different, distinct animals. When he felt he had effectively memorized the dog movement, he joined Promise in looking over every single note they had ever taken at Hogwarts, desperate to find an alternative method to get past the dragon.

They went back to the classroom immediately after the bell rang and began to practice. The first few times were quite unsuccessful. The closest he got was when he turned the desk's legs into hairy ones and managed to make it bark awkwardly by opening its top drawer quickly.

"Needs some work," Cedric smiled sheepishly as the bell rang for dinner.

"Just keep at it," Promise smiled encouragingly. "You'll get it. If anyone can, I know it's you." She left him alone in the room.

In the complete silence that echoed around him, he closed his eyes. He visualized the dog. He visualized it tantalizing the dragon. He visualized himself running right past the dragon and hitting the buzzer, sending the stands into raucous applause and cheers. There was Sam, second out of the stands after Promise. She ran up and kissed him.

He recast the transfiguration spell on the desk without looking. He heard a growl and chanced a peek with his eye. There, in front of him, the desk still had hairy legs, opened its top drawer to bark, and had grown a tail.

Well, at least he was making progress.

He transformed the desk back into its original state and began to replay the complicated spell over in his mind. Where was he going wrong? He ran it through his head three times before finally casting it on his fourth run through.

It kept the tail and the hairy legs, and the knob of wood on the desk drawer turned into a dog's wet nose. Where was the bark? Once again, progress, but not enough.

He began to pace again as Sam, Promise, and Olivia entered the room again.

"Problems?" Promise asked him flicked her wand and levitated the large platter of food into the air and pulled a roll and some chicken off of it, beginning to make a sandwich.

"I can't get it to go right. I got the tail, but something isn't changing in the main body of the dog."

"Well, if I remember my transfiguration correctly, that means that you have the details but not the overall picture," Olivia suggested.

Cedric looked at her, unconvinced.

"I think she's right, you know," Sam shrugged. "We were just talking about it in Transfiguration the other day."

Cedric took his mind off the details. They were right; it didn't even need to be a good-looking dog, so long as it did the job right. He prepared to recast the spell, thinking of a dog from a far off distance. He waved his wand.

Instantly something began barking. He opened his eyes and looked at it.

It certainly wasn't a desk, but it still had the metal legs of a desk, but then again, it certainly wasn't a dog either.

Part of the desk had augmented into a barking head, even though it still had a wooden knob for a nose, but with the exception of the legs, the entire desk had turned hairy. The wood seemed to have grown a thin layer of thick, wood colored hair, just like a Labrador.

Sam, Olivia, and Promise all clapped enthusiastically.

"Now that," Promise conjured her signature tea in mid air. "Is a desk-dog." She nodded as she took a deep swig of tea.

"Thanks," Cedric smirked slightly. "There's tons of room for improvement though."

"Yeah," Sam smiled as she circled the dog. "But look at the big picture. If you do what you just did here, and combine it with the work you've already done, you're almost there!"

Cedric smiled lovingly at her. How he longed to kiss her, to hold her.

Promise waved her wand and the desk-dog magically returned to its desk form. "Again," She commanded him, like a queen commanding a pet monkey to redo a magic trick for the millionth time, even though it only amused her ever so slightly.

Cedric rolled his eyes upwards, shut them, and focused. He focused on the dog he had envisioned far away and quickly zoomed in on the details as he waved his wand.

He kept his eyes closed. Something went wrong, it had to, that spell didn't feel right. It just didn't.

Promise began whistling as Olivia shouted "Yeah!" really loud and Sam clapped enthusiastically. Cedric opened his eyes.

The new desk-dog had become an amalgam of the two previous attempts. Wood colored hair, dog legs, tail, barking drawer, and a wet nose.

"Again," Promise demanded.

Cedric quickly ran the dog through his mind. He imagined all of the details quickly. He waved his wand and cast the spell, but at the last second, just as he made the last motion, completely forgot about the dog's legs. Knowing exactly what to expect he opened his eyes.

The barking came almost immediately from the perfect dog's head sprouting from the desk. The desk had elongated into the form of a dog, culminating in a final, long dog's tail. Just as he had predicted, however, the legs had stayed as metal legs. When the dog tried to move them, they slipped along the ground and fell outwards as though the dog was walking on ice. Promise waved her wand quickly and made the dog float gingerly in the air.

"Put it back," Sam said, disgusted.

"At the risk of sounding morbid," Promise examined the levitating dog with desk legs. "I think it looks rather nifty."

"Change it back, Promise," Cedric ordered her. "I'll get it right this time." He focused. The image of the dog flickered in his head, far away. He zoomed in on it quickly and panned around it, focusing on every last detail for a fraction of an instant. He opened his eyes and waved his wand quickly.

The change happened quickly. The dog's body elongated and grew darker colored fur. Its head morphed out of a piece of the front of the desk. The legs grew hairy and bent slightly as the metal transformed into bones. The back of the desk lengthened and gave way to a pointed tail. At once, the dog began to bark playfully and jump around, ready to play with the nearest person.

"And there you have it, Ced." Promise smiled. "A perfect dog."

Cedric beamed with pride as the dog continued barking loudly.

Promise waved her wand and transfigured it back into a desk. "Again."

And so they practiced. The first time was a template, something Cedric tried to match every time after that. With practice, he became better. For the next few attempts, he botched them up as though it was his first time transfiguring. Gradually, improvements burst from the many failures. Eventually, he managed to get the dog to become a near perfect each time. After another hour, he managed to produce seven perfect dogs in a row.

"I think you're ready," Promise smiled, twirling her wand in her fingers after she transformed the desk back into the dog again. "Now go to sleep."

They turned off the lights and exited the room, all of them silent, still dreading the coming day. Cedric felt his stomach rumble, but he couldn't eat anything. Not yet, anyways.

They reached the Hufflepuff Common Room and he instantly transfigured the nearest table into a dog whose barking echoes reverberated around the large Hufflepuff chamber. Cedric quickly transformed it back.

"I guess that's it for practicing?" He smirked, and before anyone else could say anything more, he trekked upstairs, collapsed on his bed, and spent the next hour shaking away the fears of facing the dragon in just over twelve hours.

* * *

Cedric awoke to a relatively darkened room the following morning. The only light that dripped through the hangings around his bed was the gray of the early dawn. He swallowed as he recalled the full breath of the task ahead of him. Could he really do this? Would the dog really work?

He stood up from the bed, running the exact transfiguration spell through his brain over and over and over again. There was no point in practicing; it would only raise his nerves higher. All he could do was repeat the spell in his mind over and over and over again.

What if it didn't work?

Cedric pushed the thought backwards. It would work, it had to. He recalled changing the desk into a dog, exactly what to remember not to do, and what to remember not to leave out. Without his wand, he performed the complicating swishing movements for the spell. He compared it visually to what he had previously done. Wrong, but only slightly. He practiced again and again until he got it perfect once.

Still keeping his mouth closed for fear of something unpleasant escaping, he headed down to breakfast.

The Hufflepuffs in the Common Room broke into tumultuous applause. Many clapped him on the back.

"You go get 'em, Ced!"

"You'll show 'em!"

"I believe in you!"

"Sign my badge?"

Cedric ignored the last comment and headed over to the table occupied by Sam, Promise, and Olivia. They all stared at him with a hint of pride.

"Ready to face the day?" Promise smiled.

Cedric closed his eyes, swallowed, and nodded.

"You can do it," Olivia nodded at him. The three stood by him and they left the Common Room together.

Cedric didn't eat anything at the table, but instead just kept reviewing the method over and over in his head. No more practicing. Dragons. He couldn't face a dragon. This would never work. Sick again.

A hand extended and began to rub his back encouragingly. Cedric looked over at the person the hand belonged to. "I believe in you," Sam smiled warmly and reassuringly. "This'll work and you can do it."

"And besides," Promise set her goblet down after a hearty sip and looked across the table at him. "They said it was safer now. They're working really hard to make sure no one will die."

If he had had the courage, Cedric would have given her a very patronizing "thanks Promise," but he couldn't. Not now. Not when he was less than a few hours away from going toe to toe with a dragon.

"Don't mind her," Olivia said brightly as she pushed Promise slightly as though blocking her out of the conversation. "Just do it like you did it last night. You'll be fine"

Cedric smiled weakly. They were right. They were always right. Still didn't change the fact it was easier said than done. He was about to transfigure a rock into a dog. Not only that, but the dog had to sufficiently distract the dragon (he cringed at the thought) long enough for Cedric to get past it, whatever that meant. Yeah, this was real fool proof. Nothing could go wrong here. Nothing at all.

After what felt like another eternity, Sam and Olivia wished Cedric good luck and headed off to their first class and left Promise and Cedric sitting alone at the table. Cedric still didn't feel like talking for fear of more than just words coming out of his mouth, so Promise sat and discussed whatever tickled her fancy, but she kept the subject off of dragons, and the first task, and dogs, and transfigurations, and any other thing that could remind Cedric about what he would be facing in the hours ahead.

After a while, they left the breakfast table, Promise still chatting nonstop. She didn't even stop until they reached the Hufflepuff Common Room. In fact, Cedric wasn't even listening to Promise. He was too busy trying to push the thought of a dragon out of his head. If only he could lose himself in Promise's conversation like she could.

"Am I bothering you?" She said in a moment of insecurity.

The silence snapped Cedric out of his constant scourging of thoughts. He looked at her and blinked hard. He wished he could talk, he just didn't trust his stomach.

"Am I bothering you?" She repeated, nervously. "Because I can shut up, you know. It is possible to get Ms. Promise Ledger to shut her mouth."

Cedric smiled and shook his head. How little she understood. Her conversation was the closest thing he had to getting his mind off the subject of dragons.

A shiver ran up his spine and he tilted his head and shook it in reaction. He could handle this. He pointed his index fingers at each other and twirled them around each other, signifying that he wanted her to continue.

"So it's helping you keep your mind off…" Her voice trailed off.

Cedric nodded and twirled his thumbs faster.

"Alright, alright," Promise smiled at him. "I'm going."

And she took off again.

But something bothered Cedric. He never could remember seeing Promise this friendly towards him. Not that she wasn't always friendly, she just always had a funny way of showing it. He stared at her and, despite himself, felt a goofy smile creep over his face.

"What?" She smiled and looked at him.

Cedric shook his head and waved his hand parallel to the ground.

"Okay," She looked at him again and began to talk again, slow for the first few sentences, but resumed her blinding speed, taking tangents and shifting conversations.

In that moment he realized that no matter how much Promise seemed to not show it on a regular basis, she would always be there and care for him. It was hard to believe that just over twenty-four hours ago she hadn't been speaking to him. It was funny what a dragon could do to friendships.

They made their way over to some chairs, Promise's voice washing over him, soothing him, calming him. The bell rang, signaling that Cedric would have to head off to Arithmancy. Did Arithmancy really go on right now? He was about to face a dragon. Seriously. How did life go on? Did he even really have to go? No. He didn't, he could skive it off, but that would defeat the purpose of being a champion. Anyone could find out they were facing a dragon and skive off their class, but the point of being a champion (not to mention a prefect) was to set a role model for all the other students to look up to. The fact that he would face a dragon did not change the fact that right now, he had to go and sit in Arithmancy like all of the other students.

He picked up his bag.

"Where are you going?" Promise asked him.

Cedric opened his mouth to tell her, but a shiver struck him in his shoulder blades and he gagged slightly. He kept his mouth closed. She was smart (and she knew it). She would figure it out.

"You're not going to Arithmancy, are you?"

Cedric nodded.

"Why? You're facing a dragon right after lunch."

Cedric shrugged, managing to avoid the dragon comment by only giving a slight twinge of concern.

Promise rolled her eyes and stood up. "Fine, I'm going too. Why do you have to be so damn noble? And I thought I was going to get out of going to Arithmancy too."

Arithmancy actually passed the time faster than Promise's ramblings. He didn't even notice how fast time seemed to move as he approached his face-off with the dragon. He stared at the blackboard, Professor Vector's desk, the back of Montague's head. How could he turn all of them into a large dog?

Then a thought occurred to him: What if there was nothing in front of him to transfigure? His stomach dropped down into his upper thigh. There had to be something for him to transfigure. There just had to.

He blindly ran through a list of any spell he knew. Could he levitate something and throw it at the dragon? No, that would make the dragon mad, assuming that there was anything on the field with which to throw at the dragon. He began to panic as the bell rang. This whole thing was going to fall apart if they didn't do anything about it. The first task was set to start in less than an hour, and it had taken him all night to properly transfigure a dog on a consistent basis.

"Promise," His mouth was incredibly dry from lack of speaking. "What if there's nothing for me to transfigure."

Promise picked up her bag. "Cedric," She said, not looking at him, yet speaking very plainly. "I have an idea. You ready?"

Cedric nodded. Maybe she did have a better-

SMACK!

His face turned quickly to one side as his cheek began to burn. _Ow._

"What was that for?"

"For being so worrisome all the time," She grinned. "There will be something there to transfigure, I promise. And if there's not then you'll think of something on the fly, give way to your instincts, which, if you're going to get past the dragon in the first place, wouldn't really be that bad of an idea."

Cedric just stared at her.

"You'll be fine," She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into one of her tight, signature hugs.

Out of instinct, he hugged back, squeezing ever so slightly. She gave good hugs. From what he heard from her, he gave good hugs. They were intimate. They always managed to keep it incredibly intimate without being what some would call romantic or lovey-dovey. It all worked out in the end.

They released each other from the hug at the same time. Somehow, Cedric felt better prepared to cope with what was facing him. He picked up his bag, turned around and began to walk out of the room.

He turned around quickly. "If anything happens to me, you'll tell Sam, won't you?"

"Why don't you tell her yourself, you big baby?" Promise shook her head. "Honestly, you can face a dragon, but you can't tell Samantha Bennet that you like her." She huffed and shook her head. "Men."

They walked together in silence to the Great Hall, but no sooner had Cedric reached the spot Sam and Olivia had saved for him than Professor Sprout came scurrying over looking incredibly distraught.

"Cedric," She said obviously rather shaken. "The Champions are all meeting down on the grounds. It's time for you to come with me."

Cedric took a deep breath and looked at Sam. What if he never came back from this? He looked between Sam, Promise, and Olivia.

"Of course Professor."

He followed after Professor Sprout to the Entrance Hall, receiving comments and flashes of Red "Support Cedric Diggory" badges.

They walked across the lawn in silence. Cedric looked down to see Professor Sprout's left hand shaking slightly the whole trip. They rounded a corner and reached a tented Pavillion.

"They're in there, Cedric," Professor Sprout swallowed noticeably. The color had drained from her face, and her usually wispy hair had seemingly grown wispier than usual in the walk across the grounds. "Just keep your head and you'll be fine."

Cedric nodded. Seeing Professor Sprout so shaken over the issue made his stomach drop again. The small positive buildup he had been building up since that morning began to drain from him quickly. He pushed aside the tent's flap and walked inside.

As if the sight of a disgruntled Professor Sprout weren't enough, the look of the other champions only helped to destabilize Cedric further. Krum stood on the other side of the tent looking slightly ill while Fleur sat on a stool in the corner. The brilliant white sheen had left her hair, and the pearl looking skin had turned a grayish color. She didn't even look up at him, much less bounce over in her usual, flirtatious manner.

Cedric took a deep breath and began to walk back and forth across the length of the tent. _Surely this wouldn't be that bad. A dragon. It was just a dragon. No. Stop. Don't think of that word. Think of happy things. Think of how wonderful it will be to be done with this and celebrate in the Hufflepuff Common Room afterwards with Promise, Olivia, and Sam. _He smiled. All he had to do was get past the dragon. He thought it again. _Dragon. Why did it have to keep coming around? Focus! No more thinking about the dragon._ He felt the nothing in his stomach begin to gurgle. He hadn't eaten in over a day. He was long overdue, but what would come out? Nothing. Nothing would come out because nothing could disturb this faux-calm he convinced himself he had. Not even a dragon. Yeah. That's right. A dragon couldn't disturb this feeling of illness in his stomach.

He heard muttering outside the tent. He looked over as Harry Potter pushed the flap aside and stepped in, looking similar to how Cedric felt. Harry scanned the room and finally let his eyes rest on Cedric. Cedric looked at him and gave him the biggest smile he could possibly muster. Unfortunately, he merely upturned the corners of his mouth, probably making it look incredibly forced. Harry returned the smile, but, just like Cedric's it seemed genuine, yet forced.

"Harry! Good-o!" Ludo Bagman came bouncing out of nowhere. "Come in, come in make yourself at home!"

Why didn't Bagman make Cedric such an offer? And where had Bagman come from? And how could he be so cheery? They were about to face dragons, and he was cheery? Who did he think he was?

"Well, now we're all here- time to fill you in! When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering you this bag-" He shook the purple silk bag in his hand. "From which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different- er- varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too…" He paused in a moment of contemplation. He paused? What did he have to remember? A series of stupid directions? Cedric needed to pull off a one shot dog transfiguration. "Ah yes… Your task is to collect the golden egg."

Cedric nodded and without looking at anyone began to pace around the tent again. At least they gave him a definite ending point. It was better than trying to run a race and having a huge dragon in his path with a sign at the end saying "finish," and what did Bagman mean by varieties? Weren't some versions of dragons more vicious than others?

Without warning, time began to pass by quickly again as one moment Cedric could hear the Hogwarts students pass by the tent one second, and the next Bagman opened the purple bag and held it out to the champions.

"Ladies first," Bagman smiled as he offered Fleur the bag.

Fleur pulled out a tiny model of a dragon. A number two sign hung around its green neck. If he hadn't felt like he was about to pass out, Cedric might have wondered exactly what kind of dragon it was. He looked at Fleur's face. She had not changed expression at all. Harry was right, she did know what was coming.

Next, Krum stepped forward and pulled out a red dragon labeled with a three from the silk bag, glanced at it quickly and sat back down, without so much as batting an eye.

Cedric glanced over at Harry for a brief instant and put his hand into the bag, feeling two dragons left, he pulled one out, blindly hoping it would be better looking than Krum's. The dragon he chose came out with a number one on its blue-gray neck. Its short snout looked at Cedric menacingly. Cedric swallowed again. Even the little version of the dragon was menacing.

Curious as to exactly which dragon he had missed, Cedric looked over at Harry. Harry dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out the largest dragon. Black, with a number four draped around its neck. It whipped its tail menacingly.

He wanted to trade. Harry didn't sign up for this. He knew it. They both knew it. That dragon was larger and more vicious looking than the others. Harry didn't need to face the last dragon. He shouldn't have. If he hadn't been so positive that none of the other champions would have said no, Cedric would have traded with Harry.

"Well there you are," Bagman beamed. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating…" Commentating? Could this get any worse? "Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now…" He turned to look at Harry. "Could I have a quick word? Outside?"

Harry? What did he want with Harry?

But Cedric had no time to worry about that now. He stared at the dragon intently. He was better than this. He could beat it. He just knew it. All he had to do was go out there and get that golden egg. That was it. He was going to beat the dragon.

The dragon sneered at Cedric. In a more humorous situation, Cedric would have sneered back, but he didn't. He placed the dragon in his pocket and ran through the transfiguration spell in his head once more.

The whistle blew.

On a cloud of air, Cedric walked out of the tent. He might have passed Harry when he walked past, but he had lost all feeling in his body. He kept his eyes on the ground, unwilling to take his eyes up to face what he was about to. He raised his head slightly to see where he was going and passed through a gap in the enclosure's fence. When he had stepped into the enclosure, he looked up.

All around him, the entire congregation of students at Hogwarts as well as the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students cheered him. They knew what he was facing, they had seen it before. Technically, so had he, but it was more menacing in real life.

The blue dragon looked down on Cedric menacingly from above a clutch of eggs. Cedric felt a shiver of panic overtake him. He could do this. All he had to do was get his hands on the golden egg. That was it. He looked around at the various small boulders placed around him for cover. Inwardly, he laughed slightly. They decided to give him cover. No, it wasn't like this was a dragon that could breathe bursts of fire and perhaps melt the rocks themselves.

He put up his wand, which was shaking like mad. He focused, putting what little remained of his focus and concentration into keeping his hand steady. He had one shot at this. If he didn't get it, he was a dead man. No! Stop thinking that way! He wasn't going to fail, he just wasn't. It was that simple.

He waved his wand at the nearest boulder.

Confidence shot through him as it transfigured perfectly into the dog he had practiced. Perfect. Maybe he wasn't so dead after all. The dog looked around happily, its tongue drooping out of its mouth. It caught sight of the dragon and snarled.

That's it. Go. Run. Show the dragon that you're the threat.

Cedric looked up just as the dragon snorted a small, intense burst of fire from its short snout. Cedric instinctually dove to his right, feeling the searing heat from the flame. That was too close. _Note to self: Keep away from the dragon's flame_. He looked over at the dog. It had jumped right and began to bark madly at the dragon. The dragon diverted its attention to the dog. Cedric took the opportunity to dive behind another rock. He could do this. He looked around the rock at the dragon. It still followed the dog's movement, but didn't get up from the eggs. Slowly, apprehensively, it stepped away from its eggs as the dog moved around the dragon, still out of range of the dragon's attack.

Then Cedric did something very, very stupid. He blindly made a dash for the eggs. There it was, only a short ways away. He was so focused on the golden egg that he didn't notice the dragon snap its head towards Cedric. It snorted out a barrage of small, powerful flame. Cedric just managed to dive behind a rock.

The rock grew very hot very fast. He peeled his back off the rock quickly, feeling the intense warmth bleed through his robe and onto the back of his skin as he caught his breath. That was too close. He needed to make sure that the dog caught the dragon's attention and kept it. The dog began to bark faintly from the other side of the dragon. Cedric chanced a quick glance around the rock to see the dragon peering apprehensively right at Cedric.

_No. No, you're not doing it right! Go for the dog. The dog!_

He heard a light, distant crunch and the dragon released a mildly pained grunt. He looked around to see the dragon twirl around, its tail bleeding slightly. Careful to not crush the eggs, it turned to face the dog and began to blow more fire at it.

Cedric kept crouched down and looked at the eggs. He had made some progress on closing the gap between himself and the golden eggs, but he still had a long way to go. Keeping low, he made a chance run towards the next rock in the chain of rocks littered around the enclosure.

Once he was safely over at the next rock he looked over at the one he had just left. The front of it had morphed and melted, leaving drips of rock all across the front of it and down onto the ground in quickly dried puddles. Hopefully, he wouldn't experience his flesh melting off his bones. He looked for the next rock and caught sight of two. One was closer, but wouldn't get him too much closer to the eggs, whereas the other was farther away, but was a major stepping stone towards his goal.

In a moment of fast thinking, Cedric stayed hunched over and sprinted towards the next rock, switching his eyes quickly between focus on the dragon and the next rock. At the very last second, he noticed the dragon's head snap towards him and begin to barrage him with fireballs. He slid into the rock, hurting his foot slightly as he came into contact with it.

Once again, the dog caught the dragon's attention and began to run up the dragon's leg and onto its back. Good dog.

The dragon reached up and began clawing its back, its long talons barely scratching off its hard, blue scales. Cedric watched as the dog scurried aimlessly, attempting to get out of the way of the massive claws. It scurried up the dragon's back and up the neck until it reached the point between the dragon's eyes. It kept running and jumped off the dragon's short snout. The dragon shot balls of flame at the dog, but the dog landed and began to zigzag, successfully dodging all of the shots.

That was when Cedric noticed that the dog was heading straight towards his rock.

Cedric whipped his wand towards the dog. "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" He cried. The dog's legs continued to run through the air as it found itself lifted off the ground. In a desperate attempt to keep the dog away, he swung his wand as hard as he could to his left, where the dog had first appeared and released the spell.

The dog flew through the air and skidded on its feet, stumbling slightly. Cedric looked back to see what the dragon was doing. He swallowed hard. The dragon approached him quickly, faster than Cedric would have ever anticipated for such a massive creature.

Cedric dove to the left just as the dragon released a flurry of fireballs, melting the rock into a molten pile of goo. He began to sprint towards the dog, firing curses backwards towards the dragon. He had no idea what good they would do him, but it was better than running and hoping for the best. Every so often he chanced a glance at the dragon, but it seemed to retreat back to its clutch of eggs. It fired more balls of fire at him.

Cedric dove behind the next rock and caught his breath. Heat bursted past the rock and around his figure. He looked down in response to a constant heat around his ankle and discovered, to his horror, that the hem of his cloak had caught fire. He muttered "_Augamenti_" and a stream of water from the tip of his wand put the fire out. That was too close. That was way too close.

When the barrage had finally subsided, Cedric peaked around the rock to see the dragon still gazing at his rock intently. He turned back around. He needed a plan. He needed a plan. Something to distract the dragon.

He heard a bark and looked over to see the dog barking at one of the dragon's hind legs. Cedric breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was still alive. The dragon looked over at the dog curiously, reaching over as if to pet the dog.

Cedric looked at the clutch of eggs. There, in the middle sat the golden one. If only he could get the dragon to get up again. If only he could get the dog to get the dragon to move…

He pointed his wand at the dog. "_Engorgio,_" He muttered. The dog grew in size, not nearly as much as Cedric wanted, but larger than he had hoped. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," He muttered again, lifting the dog over the dragon's claw and onto the dragon's back, placing it in a position he hoped the dragon would not be able to claw. The dragon began to tilt its head to try to see its back, but failed. The dog began to bark, seeing itself on the dragon's back with nowhere to go. Now, how could he get the dragon to move? He waited for the dog to begin to claw the dragon. It continued barking like mad and the dragon began to try to claw the dog.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Cedric called out and the dog froze on the dragon's back. It fell to its side, legs standing straight out.

The dragon attempted to peer around to see what was going on on its back.

"_Sonorous_," Cedric muttered and pointed to the dog, its growls magically magnified.

The effect was instantaneous. The dragon identified the dog as a threat. Cedric took his chance.

He sprinted forward, the dragon unaware that Cedric approached. He still had a long way to sprint, and his chances were slim that he would make it all the way to the egg unnoticed. All he needed was to bypass more rocks faster. He kept his eye on the dragon as it reared back. No. Not good. The dog was about to slide right off the dragon's back and onto the grass. At the last instant before he lost sight of the dog, he waved his wand and transfigured it back into a rock.

Halfway there. No more stones for cover on this side of the field. He put all of his energy into his legs pumping them as hard as he could. _They'll fall off! Come on! Keep going!_

He looked up as the dragon picked up the dog-boulder with one hand and landed back on the clutch of eggs still not looking at Cedric.

Then it lifted its eyes to see him. It looked from the boulder to Cedric and back to the boulder. It tossed the boulder at Cedric, forcing him to dive out of the way. He managed to roll to the right as it bounced past. He looked up just as the dragon began to send more fire at him. He began to cut in a diagonal path to the dragon's left claw. It was safer there than beneath its nose.

The dragon, however, was far cleverer than Cedric had given it credit for. It began to shoot a straight shot directly in front of Cedric. He slid to a halt and prepared to push off with his right foot when he realized his mistake.

The pain shot across the right side of his face. He began a mad dash towards the egg, dragon continuing to fling fire at him.

Cedric jumped, now aware that the entire right side of his robes was on fire. He reached out his left hand and snatched the egg in his arm. The dragon lifted its right arm and flung Cedric into the air. He flew, he did not know for how long, much less did he care. It felt like his left arm had broken as a result of the dragon's arm flinging Cedric aside. The dragon roared as Cedric looked back to see the dragon spinning around and around, a group of trained wizards arriving to subdue the dragon, hundreds of red lights flying from the many wand tips.

He smiled as he froze in midair. He spun around, the egg and his wand still clutched in his right arm. Madame Pomfrey came scurrying across the field. The entire right side of his face burned with intensity. She cast a spell with her wand and his robes extinguished from the powerful gush of water. She twirled Cedric slowly and set him on the ground on his feet.

"In my tent. Now," She ordered.

He smiled and began to walk towards the tent.

She began pacing around him even before he even reached the tent.

"Broken arm, a bad burn to your face. You'll need to take your robe off in the tent so I can see the extent of the damage. Dragons!"

But Cedric still didn't care. He had the egg and he was still alive.

Madame Pomfrey sat him down on a cot as she pulled a huge vat of orange paste from a makeshift cupboard, muttering to herself incessantly. She looked back at him and rolled her eyes in a hurry as she pulled out her wand again. "This might hurt," She muttered.

His left arm, which jutted out at an odd angle, magically set itself into place as good as new.

"No moving it," She commanded him as she pocket her wand again and opened the vat, putting copious amounts on hands. "Take off your robes."

Cedric set his egg and wand down on the cot next to him and took off his robe. He looked down at his right side. It was red, charred, and raw, but it didn't look bad enough for the amount of paste she had pulled out.

Madame Pomfrey put a light coat on the slightly red area on his torso. When it came to his face, she put the rest in a thick layer on his face.

"We need to rejuvenate the skin," She informed him.

Promise, Olivia, and Sam burst through the tent flap.

"I knew you'd do it!" Promise squealed and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thanks," Cedric kept on smiling.

"I told you!" Olivia punched him in the arm affectionately and gave him a quick hug.

"Good job, Champ," Sam smiled at him.

"Come on," Promise pulled Cedric's left arm.

"Where are we going?" Cedric asked, positively beaming with pride.

"Nowhere," Madame Pomfrey snapped as she pushed Cedric back to the cot.

"Why not?" Promise demanded, standing Cedric back up. "You're holding up the whole process. Cedric has to see his scores so that the rest of the Champions can compete."

Madame Pomfrey pushed Cedric back down. "The other Champions can wait."

"But what about the students?" Promise smiled innocently. "They're out for more action."

Madame Pomfrey huffed, rolled her eyes, and released Cedric. "If he's not back right away…"

"Not to fear," Sam bit her lip and smiled grabbing Cedric's other arm, making him yelp in pain. "Sorry," she smiled innocently.

They ran to the tent and stood in front of the flap.

"Did you, by any chance, happen to hear anything when you were out there?" Promise asked.

"Not really, no," Cedric realized, completely unaware that his ears had shut off anything that wasn't in the immediate enclosure. "I only heard-"

The last thing he saw was Promise nod to Sam and Olivia as they pushed him out of the tent and into the bright light of the field around him.

The crowd's screams deafened his ears. Everyone in the stands, with the exception of the five judges were on their feet, applauding and cheering.

It continued so long, that Madame Maxime thrust her wand into the air and released a shot of silver ribbon that coiled itself into a seven. Mr. Crouch , Professor Dumbledore, and Ludo Bagman gave him an eight, and Professor Karkaroff finished with a seven. Cedric smiled. Considering that just over twenty four hours before he had been blissfully ignorant about the dragon and exactly how to defeat it, Cedric felt proud to score so high. He smiled and turned around, just in time to see Madame Pomfrey marching towards him across the field. He became vaguely aware of the echoing bang of a canon from a distant place, but he didn't care. He had survived.

Cedric sat down on the bed as Madame Pomfrey scooped out another handful of paste. She lathered it back on again. He heard the dragon roar in the background and realized that Fleur had gone to face it.

Promise and Olivia squealed and ran off to watch Fleur's attempt, leaving Cedric alone with Sam. She began to talk about how spectacular he had performed and how well the dog did and praising him for his bravery, but Cedric didn't really pay as much attention to what she was saying as he probably otherwise would have. He just let the sound of her voice wash over him, soothing him, contenting him.

Promise and Olivia returned a few minutes later, fairly put out.

"She didn't get set on fire," Promise pouted and scrunched her nose, walking back into the tent several minutes later.

"It wasn't that exciting," Olivia whispered to Cedric. "Not as exciting as yours at least."

Olivia had just begun to tell the story in great detail just as the cannon went off again.

Promise and Olivia rushed to the tent flap almost immediately.

"It's Krum," Cedric called out as Madame Pomfrey rounded the corner again to apply more paste, which had melted off from the heat of the burns on his skin.

"It's rejuvenating your skin, Diggory," She said as she rubbed it on his skin in another thick layer. "The fact that it's disappearing means it's working."

So Cedric continued to sit, waiting for his burn to finish healing. Sam sat next to him in silence, a comfortable silence. When Promise and Olivia came back from Krum's effort, they seemed to be floating.

"What happened now?" Sam asked them.

"He's a dreamy," Olivia said, dazedly.

"Yeah, if you like the scowling, surly type."

Sam and Cedric both laughed.

"Hey," Promise interjected. "That's actually incredibly attractive if you didn't know."

And then the whistle blew for Harry just as Madame Pomfrey finished applying the last coat of orange to Cedric's skin. Cedric was prepared to sit there contentedly for another few minutes, but after the first few seconds, Promise yelled at him.

"Cedric! Cedric! Come quick! You have to see this!"

Cedric and Sam leapt up and ran for the tent flap, out of sight of Madame Pomfrey. He looked out at the sight around him and dropped his jaw.

Harry had decided to fly on his legendary Firebolt. He zigzagged around the gigantic dragon expertly, weaving and diving, trying to pull the dragon away from its egg. They all watched in complete silence as Harry moved expertly and, within a matter of minutes, had successfully captured his egg. Cedric, Sam, Olivia, and Promise all burst into a fit of applause.

"That is quite enough," Madame Pomfrey said from behind them, rushing out towards the field, where Harry was about to land.

They all turned around.

"I told you to sit down and you didn't listen, so now I'm going to have to ask you three to leave."

"But-" Sam stuttered.

"No but's, Miss Bennett. Out. All of you."

The three of them gave Cedric a hug and left, sulking. Cedric, saddened by this turn of events, returned to his seat and waited. A minute later he heard Harry Potter enter. Madame Pomfrey complained about the dragons again, but Cedric wasn't listening, he felt the cool right hand side of his face. The paste seemed to have done its work, so he stood up to leave.

Madame Pomfrey bustled around a corner. "How does it feel, Diggory?" She inquired absentmindedly.

Cedric jumped back onto the cot. "Great! Thanks! Can I go now?"

"I think one more should do it," She said approvingly, and applied a final handful of orange to his face.

He sat there contentedly, still amazed that he had gotten past the dragon.

"They want to see you in the Champion's tent," Madame Pomfrey told him. "Take your belongings and leave, you shan't need to come back."

Cedric nodded approvingly.

He returned to the tent and waited for the other Champions to arrive. When Harry walked in, he beamed and gave him the largest smile he could. Harry returned it, just as glad as he was to be done with this task.

Ludo Bagman bounded in and gave them instructions. Cedric paid attention only long enough to catch the basic gist of what he was saying. He had several months until the second task and a clue was located in the golden egg he held in his hand.

He emerged from the tent to see Sam, Olivia, and Promise all standing there waiting for him.

"Shall we?" Promise asked him, bending her arm and holding it out to Cedric.

"Are you kidding?" He asked her.

He linked arms with her and Sam who linked with Olivia, and together they walked back to the castle. He smiled the whole way to the top.

It really wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. It actually went rather well, even though he melted half his body in the process.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Cedric or Moody or Cho Chang. But they're the only real- wait… Justin Finch-Fletchly (crazy name)… Don't own him neither… But, seeing as this is a fun, Promise-Sam-Cedric dynamic chapter, I take full responsibility for all the humor and all that. Why? Cuz I own it… And the original characters… Yeah… Definitely own them…

**

* * *

Chapter 11  
Promise's Bubbles**

Cedric, Sam, Promise, and Olivia all headed up to the library after returning to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"I can't believe they kicked us out!" Promise muttered for the twelfth time as they scanned the rows of books.

"They're decorating," Olivia replied for her twelfth time.

"So? We could help them, and they have magic, and we could always just sit in our dormitories, and why do we have to go with Cedric? It's all your fault that we got kicked out of the common room in the first place!" She pointed a finger at Cedric.

"You could always go back, I didn't force you to come," Cedric looked at her.

"No, but you asked," Promise rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you? You ask me to do something and I'm obligated to do it."

"Because you're my best friend?" Cedric smirked at her.

Promise let a high-pitched laugh break through her lips. "Don't flatter yourself, Pretty Boy. You know full well I'm just trying to live up to your 'fine example.'"

"And we all believe that," Sam muttered under her breath.

"You patronizing me?" Promise looked across Olivia's back at Sam.

"Huh? What? I didn't say anything."

"Should we just go?" Olivia offered. "I'm sure they're done with the decorations and the food by now."

"But they've only had ten minutes," Cedric pulled his nose out of _Bizarre Befuddlements of the Batty_.

"Oh please," Promise rolled her eyes. "How long do you really think it takes for Hufflepuffs in the common room to get food from the kitchens and put huge decorations up with magic? They're not only ready and waiting for us, they're starting to get impatient."

Cedric shrugged. "But what if you're wrong?"

Promise scoffed. "Do you happen to remember who you're talking to? I'm never wrong, dear Cedric." She smiled, put up her index finger, tapped Cedric's nose with it, giggled, and perkily bounced away and out of the library.

They all stared blankly at the door to the library, none of them moving their eyes, none of them saying a word, none of them doing much of anything at all.

Cedric blinked heavily, his head unmoving. "You know, sometimes, I don't know what she's going to do next."

"Has she ever done that before?" Sam asked, horrified.

Cedric kept his eyes on the door, still mildly in shock. "I don't know if I like that because it makes her look cute and reminds me why I love her, or if I hate it because she just scared me like nothing else. Someone pinch me."

Olivia stuck out her arm and groped for Cedric's arm, finally landing and pinching.

"Ouch," Cedric stated monotonously. "I think that might have hurt."

Promise stuck her head in the door, her natural, shoulder-length curls bouncing very uncharacteristically. She waved at them, even bubblier than before.

"Anyone else freaked out?" Olivia asked them.

"I've never seen anything so scary," Sam remarked.

"I'm up for her never doing anything like that again."

"I concur," Olivia nodded.

They stood stationary for several more seconds.

"So, are we going?" Olivia broke the silence.

Cedric began. "I'm not-"

Promise poked her head around the door again, curls bouncing.

"I'm in," Cedric snapped to his senses and headed towards the door Sam and Olivia right behind him.

As soon as Promise saw them coming, her incredibly fake, bubbly smile dropped. "Finally! I had no idea how long it'd take for you to get out of there."

Sam walked up to Promise and stopped, locking eyes. "Never. Do. That. Again."

"I'm right there with ya," Promise smiled. "That really sucked."

"Says you! You didn't have to watch it," Olivia walked past her.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad!" Promise half exclaimed.

"No, it was cute," Cedric established sarcastically.

"See?" Promise called out to Sam and Olivia, who were heading away from the library slightly faster than normal. "Cedric thought it was cute!"

"Yes, but it was a very… 'Not-Promise' cute," Cedric nodded. "It was scary to see you so… chirpy."

"I can be chirpy!" Promise shouted indignantly, as though insulted.

"Yeah, and I like sarcasm Promise more than I like chirpy, perky, bubbly, hair bouncy Promise." Cedric turned to leave and began to walk off.

"You don't think I can be uppity?"

Cedric stopped, turned his head to look at Promise, opened his mouth to speak, closed it and turned back around, continuing his walk.

"That's it! Isn't it?" Promise bounded after him, jumping in front of him and walking backwards. "You don't think I can be bubbly little Promise."

"I never said that," Cedric said.

"Aha!" Promise stopped and pointed a finger at him. "But you thought it! Confess!"

"And if I did?"

"Okay, Pretty Boy," Promise bit her lip and rubbed her hands together, scheming, the wheels in her head turning as fast as they did on exam day. "I'll make you a deal."

"I'm not going to like this," Cedric muttered.

Promise looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was around. "I stay happy and bubbly and perky for a week and a half. No, not even a week and a half. Ten days. That gives you a half a day leeway."

"Oh no."

"And if I can do that to your _honest _satisfaction," Promise smirked. "You ask Sam to the Yule Ball."

"Yule Ball?" Cedric inquired. "What's a Yule Ball?"

"You'll see," Promise smirked and stuck out her hand. "And that's the deal."

Cedric bit the front inside of his bottom lip. Asking Sam out was the absolute worst idea in the world. He didn't want to jeopardize the strong relationship growing between them, but he did want to date her. More than anything in the world he wanted to date her.

On the other hand, there was no way Promise would pull off a ten day bubble streak, so he didn't even have to worry about asking Sam to the Yule Ball.

"Deal," Cedric agreed reluctantly, grabbing Promise's hand.

Before he had realized what was happening, Promise had her wand out and was already tapping their hands with it. "_Litsune_," She whispered.

"Wait, what?"

"_Litsune_," Promise explained. "It's a little something I stumbled upon. When two wizards or witches go into a pact in which one has to be honest to the other about something, for example, if I'm bubbly enough," (She squeaked and shook her head incredibly fast on the word bubbly, curls bouncing). "It makes sure you don't cheat at the end and say that I wasn't bubbly enough even though I'm going to put all the bubble I can into this so you'll actually have to ask Sam to the Ball."

"But you haven't even told me what the Ball is!"

"Patience, my dear Cedric, patience," Promise whispered in his ear. She smiled and turned, keeping her head twisted oddly and facing him. She bit her lip and headed down towards the Hufflepuff Common Room and the celebration.

True to her word, Promise was bubbly and incredibly bouncy for the rest of the day. Even as they entered the Hufflepuff Common Room to the tumultuous screams and applause of fellow Hufflepuffs, Promise giggled as every Hufflepuff clapped Cedric on the back, interjecting random phrases like "Don't you just love him?" or "He's so cool, isn't he?"

Cedric also noticed that Sam and Olivia tried to stay close to Cedric while avoiding Promise.

"What's wrong?" He asked them in between handshakes and claps on the back.

"She's doing it again," Sam muttered, slightly frightened.

"I know," Cedric chuckled as another Hufflepuff came by for another handshake. "She kind of wanted to."

They remained silent, staring at Promise. Fourth year Justin Finch-Fletchley approached them, and when he failed to garner Cedric's attention after a few seconds, turned around to look at what they were looking at.

"What are we looking at?" He asked, puzzled.

"My best friend," Cedric said. Promise looked up from a big sip of pumpkin juice and gave him the biggest wave and smile Cedric had ever seen her give.

"And… why is she doing that?"

"The real question is why would she want to? It's so… not Promise," Olivia asked, turning a slight tinge of green.

"It's a bet," Cedric smiled and looked over at Justin. He waved back to Promise, twiddling his fingers. She giggled, shrugged her shoulders, and resumed to talking with a seventh year. "I bet her she couldn't go ten days like that."

"What do you get in return?" Sam inquired.

"Couldn't say," Cedric's voice trailed off slightly. "But who cares? After two days of this she'll go mad."

Promise bounded up to them. "Don't you just love winning? It makes us all happy. I mean… a dragon! Who'd have thought you could've done it? I know that that Mr. Fillion over there sure didn't think you could do it when he saw that huge Swedish Short-Snout. Well," She looked up without moving her head, twisted her left shoulder, smiled with an open mouth and giggled once. "Well of course I did. How could I ever doubt you?" She smiled, turned around, flipped up her heel, kissed her hand, and held it up and a gesture of farewell.

They all watched her head off and start talking to a group of third years. Initially, they seemed interested in talking to her, but after a matter of seconds, they began to look for ways to get out of talking to her.

"On the other hand," Sam said after a moment of more stunned silence. "We could go mad in half that time."

"She's buckling. Can't you tell?" Olivia laughed nervously, fake-smiling. "Come on. Someone else tell me I'm seeing this and not just trying to convince myself of this."

"No," Cedric remarked. "But she does seem to be having fun withit. It'll burn out. It has to. It just has to."

"Do you remember what she was like before? Humorous? Fun natured, without the… fun? Fun to be around?" Justin added. "Was there a reason that I'm looking at her?"

"You got roped into this whole thing the second you walked over here," Sam shrugged. "You can leave if you want or if you know what's good for you."

"But I can't help but feel like there's something I was forgetting."

"Cedric," Olivia muttered after another minute of stunned silence.

"Oh! Right! Congratulations again, Cedric. You did loads better than Krum. Much more daring."

"Thanks a lot Justin," Cedric shook his head and knocked himself out of the stupor Promise's new behavior had left him in. He shook Justin's hand and smiled.

"How does it feel?" Justin asked.

"Right now? Weird. I can't believe I have to endure another ten days-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no," Justin laughed. "I meant the dragon."

"Dragon? Oh! The Dragon!" Cedric had completely forgotten the dragon between his bet, the prospect of going out with Sam, and, least of all, Promise's new personality. "It feels great. I couldn't believe I did it, but I did."

"Well it was very exciting! I commend you. I hope you do something similar for the second task. Any idea what it could be?"

"Not yet. They gave me a clue to it though."

"Oh! What was it? I know that everyone here would be more than happy to help you out!"

Cedric looked at Justin skeptically. "After all the stuff I had to go through with the first task, you're delusional if you're thinking I'm not asking for help, but I just got off the first task, and now I have Promise to deal with."

"Well I know that I don't know as much as you Ced," Justin smiled comfortably. "But I do know that if you ever need any help, I'm more than willing, and I'm sure everyone else here is too."

"Thanks Justin, I appreciate it, and I'll keep it in mind."

Justin headed off to meet with fellow fourth years Susan Bones and Ernie McMillan. Suddenly liberated from keeping an eye on Promise, Cedric took a look around the room. Most of the room was at least partially intrigued by what Promise was doing and how she was acting.

Cedric sighed uncomfortably. Half an hour ago, he had been fairly sure she wouldn't be able to keep this charade up for even two of the ten days, three at most, but as he looked around and realized just how much attention this stunt was in her favor, he realized that she could continue it indefinitely. Perhaps he would have to ask Sam to this mystery Ball after all.

"You know," Cedric looked over at Sam and Olivia. "I'm beginning to think Promise will pull this off."

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked Cedric.

"Look at all the attention she's getting."

Sam and Olivia averted their eyes from Promise and looked around.

"Oh no," Sam whispered.

"Exactly."

"I hope you didn't bet anything big," Olivia looked over to Cedric, mildly concerned. "What did you bet her?"

"Couldn't say," Cedric responded instinctively.

"Then it must be good," Sam smiled. "She'd only do this to make you do something she really wanted you to. I hope it's not something dreadful."

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know Promise," Olivia giggled. "Maybe she'd make you snog with Cho Chang."

"I'm going to ignore that comment and skip right to the part where I think about her not winning," Sam said aloofly.

Promise strode over to Cedric, Sam, and Olivia. "This isn't so bad," She remarked, smiling and sighing dreamily.

"For you maybe," Olivia grumbled.

"Well if I'm going to do something that's difficult, I might as well try to make it easy," Promise stuck her tongue between her teeth. "Looks like I'm going to win that bet after all."

"Speaking of that bet," Sam chimed in. "What is it? It must be good for you to agree to something like this for ten days."

"Oh it'll be totally worth it," Promise giggled.

"What is it?" Sam smiled innocently.

"I don't think I should be telling you," Promise pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows in concentration. "Nope, don't think so. Now if you'll excuse me, I think it's time for bed."

She skipped away, merrily bouncing with each separate step and hop.

"Now I _really_ want to know what the prize is," Sam frowned.

"At the rate she's going, you'll know in ten days," Olivia nodded.

"She had a point though," Cedric yawned.

"Tired?" Olivia asked.

"I fought a dragon," Cedric looked at her sarcastically.

"This whole Promise thing dragged the whole thing from my mind," Sam confessed.

"G'night you two," Cedric smiled, hugging them both in turn.

As he headed up the staircase to the boys dorms, the remaining students clapped, applauded, and cheered Cedric's exit. Cedric stopped on the stairs and held out his hands to silence them. "Thanks," He addressed them. "But this is only the first task. I still have two more."

"And you'll win the whole tournament!" Someone shouted.

The crowd applauded as Cedric headed up to his room. Within minutes, he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

It was dark when Cedric opened his eyes. He could tell from the dim light of the sinking moon it was way too early in the morning. 

He rubbed his eyes as he looked around his dormitory, the full bearing of what he had done struck him. He had actually defeated a dragon. He smiled. How many people in the world could claim that they had gone toe to toe with a dragon and won? Just four… Just four…

He looked over to his bedside table where he had placed the golden egg before the rest of the Hufflepuffs had expelled him from the common room and dormitories in preparation for the party. He looked at it and examined it carefully. A thin groove split it across the middle, just like Ludo Bagman had assured them. He lifted the egg and felt its weight, considering with both hands exactly what could be inside. Tentatively, he sunk his fingers into the groove and slowly, cautiously pulled the egg open.

Without warning, a loud, ear splitting, piercing shriek wailed across the Common Room. The boys in the beds around him threw their hands to their ears.

"What the hell is that? Turn that blasted thing off!" One of the boys shouted as he covered his ears above the din.

In all the instant commotion, Cedric dropped the still wailing egg on his bed. He grabbed for it and fumbled it twice, ears crying under the pain of the high-pitched shriek. With a quick, clapping motion, he slammed the egg shut.

As the noise ended, the other boys in his dorm breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was that?" Tony Bronstone asked from his bed, slightly louder than normal. "I think I lost my sense of hearing."

"Don't be so melodramatic," Terrence Clamp rolled his eyes from the bed opposite Tony. His voice was a tinge louder than normal too. "But he's got a point. What was that?"

"The second task?" Cedric grinned weakly. "Ludo Bagman gave me this clue."

"Oh, so it's a clue, is it?" Aaron Baldwin peeled back his bedsheets and approached Cedric's bed.

"That's what it's supposed to be," Cedric shrugged. "But I don't know what it means. You guys have any idea?"

"Yeah, it's Champion for 'let's all go back to sleeping just like we were before the terrible shrieking,'" Patrick Rondheimer mumbled from underneath his pillow. "Some of us were trying to sleep, you know."

"You know, that rhymed," Aaron pointed out. "For being asleep you sure are a good poet."

The other boys in the room laughed. Patrick ignored them as he kept trying to fall back to sleep.

"Seriously? I have no idea," Tony walked over to Cedric's bed and lifted the egg. "Who knew sound could be so heavy?"

"I'm with Patrick," Terrence yawned. "It's four o'clock in the morning."

"Four thirty," Aaron interrupted, looking at the egg in Tony's hands.

"Same difference," Terrence rolled his eyes. "The point is that Patrick is right. It's late… or… early, rather. And we have things to do in the morning. You know, classes and stuff?"

"So?" Tony interjected. "This is important stuff."

"But it can wait till morning," Terrence whined. "Open the egg again and I"ll make sure you won't even squeak." And without another world, he climbed back into bed, pulled the blankets over his head, and fell right to sleep.

"But it is morning!" Aaron countered.

"He has a point, it's too early to be worrying about this," Cedric rubbed his eyes. "I just opened it because I couldn't sleep and curiosity got the better of me. My bad."

"No worries, Ced," Aaron clapped him on the shoulder. "We've pulled off more ridiculous nights.

"I don't doubt that," Cedric smirked.

"Shut up," Aaron and Terrence said before returning to their beds and joining Terrence and Patrick in dream world.

Cedric, however, couldn't sleep. He was too busy pondering the purpose of the egg. He wanted to decipher it, really, a clue to another puzzle he had three months to solve. He slid his finger under the groove tentatively, opening it that small amount that would not release the horrible sound of wailing and screeching.

He fell back onto his bed, the egg in his arms.

* * *

He didn't quite fall back to sleep, instead staying in the state of persistent dozing that was somewhere between the unconscious and the conscious. An hour later, at first light, he stood up, placed the egg on his bedside table, and headed out of the dorm and to the Common Room. 

The room was empty, but that didn't surprise him. At almost six o'clock in the morning, what did he expect? The rest of the house was still asleep. The fire had been long extinguished, leaving only the gray remains of ashes and charred log. Cedric pulled up a chair close to the remains of the fire and fell into a sort of trance, his body neither comprehending nor shutting down. The events of the previous months kept him awake. Yeah, it made him happy he had accomplished so much so fast, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was over. The blood-curdling shriek of the egg still made him twinge slightly. If the person who made that sound was involved in the next task, Cedric dreaded ever coming face to face with whatever forced the person to make that sound.

He sighed as the sun rose higher, eliciting early birds from their dormitories. They each congratulated Cedric on his work from the previous day before finishing the last touches on the homework they didn't finish in the festivities of the night before. Cedric kept looking back and forth between the small groups of procrastinators. When would they learn?

Promise came down just as the clock in the Common Room struck six thirty.

"Good morning, love," She smiled brightly, far too chipper for Promise's usual "I-hate-anything-that-has-to-do-with-mornings" attitude, which usually wore off within a half hour. "And it's a lovely day, isn't it?"

"Dunno," Cedric confessed as he stood up from his chair. "I've been up since four thirty and I haven't seen the sun yet,"

Promise smiled reminiscently. "Oh, it _is_ good this morning," She giggled. "You know what I was thinking?" She asked Cedric.

"What?" Cedric asked, still amazed that Promise could still have a bubbly personality without showing off early morning Promise that Cedric had known so well for six years.

"Why don't boyfriends and girlfriends watch sunrises? You always hear about sunsets, but sunrises get no love. What's wrong with them?" She paused to take a quick breath. "I mean, sunsets represent the exact end of the day, the time that day mutates into night, something generally thought of by people to be more evil and more sinister. They celebrate the end of something rather than the beginning of one."

"Maybe it's because people don't like waking up at some God forsaken hour in the dark morning to watch the sun rise?" Cedric asked, as though he hadn't presented an excellent reason and instead had looked at it as a mediocre one.

"I love the mornings," Promise half-exclaimed, biting her lower lip with her upper teeth and looking upwards in an almost ecstasy.

"What have I created?" Cedric whispered in almost disgust.

"I am what I am," Promise smiled innocently. "Now why don't you get some real clothes on after a quick bath in the Prefect's Bathroom?" She pinched his cheek and pulled it affectionately. "We don't want our young champion to get sick and miss 'The Promise of Bubbles.'"

Why did she have to squeal on the word "bubbles" every time?

He did take a bath in the Prefect's bathroom, letting the warm, bubbly water soak into his skin. They did feel nice, bubbles. Sometimes they were good, so long as they weren't tied to Promise at all. It wasn't that he didn't like to see her outrageously happy, but more to the fact that it was just so very un-Promise.

He dressed in the Prefect's bathroom and headed directly to breakfast. He pulled up a seat next to Sam, his stomach curling slightly. In ten days Promise would force him to ask Sam out, assuming she went through with her end of the deal, which looked pretty certain. How did she talk him into making that bet?

"So," Promise bit her lower lip and moved her shoulders backward slightly. "Was I right about the bath or was I right about the bath?"

Cedric nodded as he put marmalade on the piece of toast he had just picked up. "Right about everything as usual."

"Do you think she's going to stop that anytime soon?" Sam asked nervously.

"I hope so, I'd would really like to not lose that bet," Cedric said, tinge of gloom in his voice.

"You never told me what the bet was," Sam looked at him intrigued.

"You know, I think you might be right," Cedric looked back at her. They held a gaze for several seconds before Sam lifted a piece of toast to her mouth slowly and took a huge bite, all the while not taking her eyes off of Cedric.

In unison, when they could take it no longer, they laughed.

"That was funny," Cedric chuckled.

"That was the goal," Sam smiled back.

Wow. Cedric felt his stomach turn over and stay there. Her smile was just so… wow.

A gasp from across the table broke his gaze.

"He didn't!" Olivia gasped and looked to Promise, face agape with shock.

"Yes!" She flashed him a large smile and bounced her curls more. "Isn't it marvelous?"

"How much convincing did that take?" Olivia kept staring at Promise.

"Just enough to make him know that I didn't think I could stay perky," Promise smiled and looked over to Cedric. He shot her a quizzical look, to which she blew a kiss at him, winked, and twiddled her fingers. Cedric rolled his eyes.

"Wait, what?" Sam inquired, totally confused.

"It's nothing," Promise smiled at her. "If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"

"Wait, it has something to do with me?" Sam asked.

"I never said that. Who said that? I didn't say that. Olivia did I say that? I didn't hear anything."

"Too right you didn't," Olivia smiled. "I still can't believe you convinced him."

"Obviously you don't know me well enough," Promise huffed, smiled and tossed a few curls over her shoulder. "Ready for Defense Against The Dark Arts, Ced?"

Cedric shrugged and stood up.

"Wait! What aren't you telling me? I wanna know!" Sam exclaimed, looking back and forth between Promise and Cedric incredibly quickly.

"All in good time, love," Promise giggled and patted Sam on the head.

"That's not fair! I wanna know!" Sam pouted slightly.

"Sam," Olivia warned her. "Let it go. It'll be better if you don't know. Trust me." Reluctantly, Sam backed off. "Ready, Ced?"

Cedric didn't answer. He kept his eyes fixed on Sam. She was right, this was horribly unfair. Why couldn't she know? If it happened she'd find out anyway.

"Cedric!" Promise kept smiling nervously as he didn't meet her gaze.

"Huh, what?" Cedric snapped out of his thoughts. "Why can't we tell her?"

"Would you just, think about that comment for a second?"

_Good point, what if Sam found out and said no? That would be even worse than making it a surprise later._ "I suppose you're right," He sighed.

"Then that's settled," Promise beamed and began heading towards the Entrance Hall.

"Tell me what?" Sam persisted. "You were going to tell me! You were! Just tell me!"

"Promise is right, Sam" Cedric looked down ponderingly. "I don't think I could tell you, not yet anyways."

"But-"

"See you at lunch," Cedric muttered, following Promise. "You knew if you said that I wouldn't tell her!" He accused he when he had caught up to her.

"Your point?" Promise looked at him with a hint of sarcasm.

"You said you'd be bubbly," Cedric felt his voice unintentionally raise slightly.

"And I am," Promise smiled. "I'm Bubbly!" She squealed again. "But you never said anything about manipulative. Plenty of girls who are bubblier than I am now are even more backstabbing and manipulating."

"That's not fair," Cedric looked at her accusingly, clenching his teeth.

"Neither is life," Promise smiled, paused slightly, smiled, shrugged her shoulders, looked up, and giggled.

"This is going to be a long nine days…" Cedric's voice trailed off.

They headed up the marble staircase towards the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom. Every so often, someone in the halls would congratulate Cedric and shake his hand. The attention, however, was considerably less than he had expected, which was just fine by him. He didn't want all the attention people kept lavishing on him.

They entered the classroom and took their seats closer in the back. More students filed in, each one congratulating Cedric on his successful completion of the first task. Cedric thanked them all in turn, appreciating each individual comment.

Something struck him after most of the students had congratulated him: Fewer students were wearing "Support Cedric Diggory" badges. He smiled and relayed his realization to Promise.

"Of course! What did you expect? Didn't you see Harry Potter fly in the first task?" She gave him a dreamy sigh, thinking about Harry.

"Okay, now that's just too far," Cedric shivered.

"G'Morning, class," Professor Moody growled as he walked out of his office and magically locked the door with his wand.

"Morning, Professor Moody," The class chorused back.

"Today we will be continuing with our comprehensive lesson on more effective methods of hexing an opponent. Does anyone remember what we discussed last time?"

Promise's hand shot up into the air so fast it made Cedric jump. He'd heard rumors about Hermione Granger and her famous hand-raising prowess, but after that, Promise might have just given Hermione a run for her money.

"Yes, Miss Ledger?" Moody growled, faintly surprised at Promise's fast hand.

"Professor Moody," Promise chirped, slightly higher pitched than normal. "Last time we discussed the advantages of using non verbal chants to hex an opponent and we began practicing one the simpler ones like the Bat Bogey Hex."

She finished, leaving a very stunned silence in the room, all eyes fixed on her. Cedric sank a tad lower into his seat. She never acted like this in class. Usually she would sit and talk in the back and then blame it on Cedric when something went wrong.

"Yes," Professor Moody grunted after another few seconds. "That was correct Miss Ledger, but is something wrong? It appears you've been Cheering Charmed one too many times today."

"I'm fine Professor Moody," Promise looked at him like he was cute when he played crazy. "Is something the matter?"

Moody chuckled slightly. "It just that you… remind me of another student."

"Really?" Promise perked up, genuinely this time. "Which one?"

"Hermione Granger," Professor Moody stated simply.

"Oh," Promise's demeanor dimmed a little, head shrinking down past her shoulders.

"Well, what Miss Ledger said is correct, we did study non verbal spells in depth last week. Can anyone tell us what we might be learning this week?" Moody looked around the room quickly with his magical eye. "Clamp!" He barked, forcing Terrence Clamp to shoot up like a Firebolt from his position with his head in his arms on his desk into a sitting position. "Clamp. Were you sleeping in my class?" Moody barked gruffly.

"No… well… yes sir," Clamp stammered.

"Is there a problem with my method of teaching, Clamp?" Moody growled roughly. "Is it not exciting enough for you?"

"No sir," Clamp shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose together with his fingers. "It's just I didn't get much sleep last night between the party and then Cedric's magical, shrieking egg."

"Oh, Diggory gave you trouble did he?" Professor Moody's magical eye fixed on Cedric, sending a shiver down his spine. "Diggory, please see me after class?"

Cedric looked over at Promise, who looked strangely neutral for several seconds before flashing him a pair of thumbs-up and a huge, fake smile. Cedric bit his lips and nodded. "Yes, sir." Cedric crossed his arms on his desk and put his head on the top of his wrists and listened to Professor Moody's lecture in silence, careful to not look over at Promise, even though her hand kept shooting up to answer every question Moody posed, even if Moody said it rhetorically.

The bell rang and Promise shot out of her seat, somehow ready to go. "Have fun doing… whatever it is Moody will have you do," She giggled again, blew Cedric a kiss and kicked up her leg simultaneously, and left the classroom.

Cedric packed his bag, still slightly shocked by Promise's unwavering bubbliness. He headed towards the front of the classroom and sat down in the desk closest to Professor Moody's, placing his bag on top of his new desk. "You wanted to see me, sir?" Cedric asked, breaking Moody's concentration on a small stack of papers.

Moody looked up. "Right, Diggory," Moody set down his quill and looked up at Cedric, eyes swiveling madly. "What is this about you keeping up students in the dormitory?"

"It wasn't my fault sir!" Cedric half exclaimed in his defense. "There was no way of knowing that the new clue for the Triwizard Tournament would screech like a Banshee when I opened it."

"Oh, it was the egg, was it?" Moody suddenly gained a new interest. "And this whole time I thought you were just being rowdy in the dormitory."

"No sir," Cedric shook his head. "I wouldn't do that. Everyone needs sleep. I would never do anything to take that away from someone else."

Moody eyed him for a minute. "I believe you, Diggory," Moody growled. "But you said the egg was… screeching?"

"Yes sir," Cedric nodded.

Moody's gnarled mouth flitted an instantaneous smile. "You do know what it means?"

"It means that the judges like to hurt everyone's ears and keep the Champions from sleeping at night?"

Moody chuckled and shook his head. "No, Diggory. That egg is speaking in a separate language. One you can't hear in normal, everyday circumstances. But put that egg in something other than air, and you might hear something different." He eyed Cedric for another second. "Dismissed."

* * *

Cedric pondered Professor Moody's cryptic clue all the way down to lunch. An element? If he remembered his basic elements right according to the early studies of alchemy that referred to Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. He already knew that it would never work in air because the dormitory echoed with wails when he opened it. Earth would probably not result in anything except muffled screams. That left him with fire and water. The only place he could check the fire would be in the free period, but that would probably result in a large, hot golden egg burning legs and tables. 

He would try water first. But when? He would have time for baths, but when could he find the time to bring the egg along and think about its wails?

And why did Moody help him?

"Something bothering you?" Sam placed a hand on his shoulder as he sat at the Hufflepuff table.

"Nah, nothing," Cedric shrugged. "But I just think Professor Moody handed me the second task."

"Oooooh," Promise interjected, wiping her mouth daintily. "What does it mean?"

"Don't know yet, but he told me how to solve it, I guess."

"That's interesting," Olivia noted.

"Yeah," Cedric looked at her. "How often is it that a professor here drops a huge Triwizard clue into your lap?"

That night's common room was a quiet affair. Promise, Sam, Olivia, and Cedric all took up residency at a table and sat and worked on homework. Only the occasional crackling and popping of the fire perforated the silence of the room.

Then, without warning, a few people groaned loudly in frustration. Cedric, Sam, Olivia, and Promise all looked up at the commotion.

Promise was the first to react. "First years," She rolled her eyes in an impossibly cute manner, insinuating they were merely silly.

Cedric looked over at Sam, who smiled at him and returned to her work, and then to Olivia, who had a devious smile spread across her face.

"What?" He mouthed.

Olivia smiled even wider. She pushed her chair back and walked over to the first years' table. "What's frustrating you guys?" She asked them.

"It's this ruddy Charms homework," One of them complained. "None of us know what's going on or how to spellcast this. Flitwick always asks the impossible."

"Really?" Olivia frowned. "That's too bad. See, I'd offer to help, but I'm not really good at Charms or spellcasting. I'm barely passing my Charms class as it is, but I do know a Prefect who is both good at both of those things. Hang on, let me go get her."

Cedric and Promise looked at each other, Promise's heart noticeably skipping a beat. _Oh Olivia, that was cold. _Promise put on the fakest smile she could muster.

"Promise," Olivia walked over casually. "I was wondering if you could help me out."

Promise smiled at Olivia. "Maybe, I'm kind of busy right now, but what can I do for you?"

"Well, I have these new friends who can't seem to get their Charms and spells right, and since you always know so many spells and you're so good at it I figured you'd jump at the chance to help out some first years. I mean, you're a Prefect and it's your job."

Promise was mad, pure and simple. She put on a good façade with her fake bubbles, but there was no way she wanted to go along with this. "Nothing would make me happier," Promise said, her voice laced with the tiniest hint of sarcasm beneath the frills.

She stood up from her chair and glided over to the first year's table.

"That was just mean," Cedric let a chuckle escape as Olivia sat back down.

"But that was so funny," Sam bit her lip.

"Well, I figured that she couldn't say no because of your bet, so I figured we could have some fun with it. Just because _we _have to suffer doesn't mean it should be horrible," Olivia picked up her quill and started work again.

Promise came back an hour later, noticeably frustrated, hair frizzier than usual. "I love first years," She sighed in a tone so bubbly that only someone who knew Promise and dealt with her sarcasm on a daily basis could detect the bubbles' true significance.

"Glad to hear you had fun," Cedric smiled at her.

"Of course," Promise smiled. "But if someone wakes up dead in the morning," she looked to one side mischievously. "Specifically, a first year, I didn't do it."

Cedric looked down at Promise's hands, which wrung themselves, strangling an invisible person. He whistled innocently and returned to work.

* * *

The perkiness went down after that. Promise toned it down so as to not have any more episodes with first years, but kept it high enough to keep her word. As teachers announced the Yule Ball to their classes, as well as the news to Cedric that he would be required to both have a date and dance with her with her to open the dance, he panicked slightly, as both Promise and him knew that he would not say no to a girl if she asked to go to the ball with him. 

Luckily, Promise's bet came in handy. Her overly perky attitude scared off any girl who came within five feet of Cedric. Cedric was grateful, even though he was regretting his promise to Promise about asking Sam.

On the last night they headed down to the kitchen to celebrate Promise's successful completion of the bet.

On the morning after the bet finished, Promise came down the stairs to the girls' dormitory as normal Promise, prance in her step gone and bounce in her feet absent.

"That. Was. Hard." Promise yawned as she hit the Common Room floor, exhausted. "Now it's your turn," She smiled at him. "I know she's already in the Great Hall, all you have to do is walk up and ask her. I'll even go in first so it looks like it was your idea. Just leave a minute after me. I want to be there for the whole thing, starting with the walk up."

Cedric nodded, ready to throw up. He could face a dragon. He could deal with Professor Moody breaking the rules and telling him, one on one, about the egg. He could even put up with Promise's unusual manner of speaking and acting. But Sam? No way. He couldn't do this. He flopped into a seat in front of the fire.

He just had to suck it up. He made a bet he shouldn't have and he lost it. They would have fun at the Yule Ball, and they would go as friends, and it would be amazing.

He stood up and breathed heavily one time. No way. He could do this. This was so much easier than anything he'd ever have to do for the Triwizard Tournament. Sam wouldn't say no. That wasn't like her. He stretched out quickly and headed into the corridor leading to the Entrance Hall.

He walked through the doors to the Great Hall, spotting Sam, Olivia, and Promise immediately. Promise, who had her eyes on the doors to the Great Hall, waved vigorously at Cedric. He smiled and bit his lip, clenching his wet palms. He began the long walk to the spot where Sam sat. Another thirty feet and he would be there. And he would ask her. And she'd say yes. And they'd have a wonderful time.

Twenty-five feet.

Almost there.

The last twenty feet of going single to the Yule Ball.

_You can do this!_

Fifteen feet.

He would-

"Hi, Cedric!" A girl jumped in front of him, blocking his view of Promise, Sam, and Olivia.

It was Cho Chang.

"Oh," Cedric lost his concentration. "Hello, Cho."

"Do you have a minute?"

_Not really, no. I have to ask Sam to the ball_. "Yeah," He swallowed heavily. He looked past her to see Promise get up quickly from the Hufflepuff table, walking briskly to Cedric. "I guess I could spare a minute."

"Well I was just wondering… do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

_No. _She didn't just ask him. Promise stopped right next to them, blocking the aisle between the tables completely. They all stood in silence for a few seconds, Cho waiting on baited breath, Cedric crushed, Promise devastated as she suddenly realized the question Cho had just posed. She closed her eyes as her head and shoulders drooped.

There, fifteen feet away, sat Sam, looking at Cedric, expecting something.

Cedric closed his eyes and regained his composure and breathed in heavily. He put on the biggest fake smile he could. Fifteen feet.

"Yes."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Cedric, Cho, or Fleur. And I don't own the egg song... But I do own the depressing twists and tuurns of this chapter... Yeah... Sorry... but happy characters don't make for exciting stories... and besides... no one's making you read this...

* * *

**Chapter 12  
Flying Solo**

"Pine fresh."

With a click, the door unlocked and Cedric pushed it open, gaining entrance to the Prefect's bathroom, which was still just as beautiful, grandiose, nothing short of breathtaking, and, dare he think it, magical as it was the first time he had entered it. Tucking the egg underneath his arm a little harder, he kicked off his shoes and stepped into the bathroom, cool white tile partially freezing the skin on his feet. He set the change of dress robes and his towel on one of the benches and placed the golden egg gingerly on top, careful to make sure it wouldn't fall and clatter around the echoing, cavernous chamber. Looking around again, Cedric walked over and turned on his favorite tap, sending golden yellow fluttering butterflies into the swimming pool, filling it up magically fast even with the absence of the few who flapped their way to Cedric's face, tickling his chin slightly before they flied away, popping when they flew too high.

Cedric sighed.

He dropped his robe to the ground and tentatively dipped one toe into the warm water, shivering from the relative cold of the bathroom. Slowly, he slid in, finally relaxing as he turned off the tap, leaned back, and began to float, looking up at the dark ceiling.

He lay there for a long time, letting the water wash away his problems. It didn't really matter that he was going to the ball with Cho Chang. It didn't really matter that pretty much the whole school knew. It didn't really matter that Cho had kissed him on the cheek the second he had said yes. It didn't really matter that Promise hadn't really spoken to him every day since. It didn't really matter that Olivia was his only company for two weeks. It didn't really matter that Sam had… had…

He flipped off his back, placed his feet on the bottom of the pool, and dunked his head under the water. After a few seconds, he lifted his head, shook the water from his hair, and rubbed his face vigorously, trying to wake up.

_Sam._

He shook the through from his mind. It was temporary, just temporary. She'd talk to him again, after the ball, like Promise. Promise would. She was Promise and it'd just take another crisis… like a dragon… or the return of You-Know-Who… or the death of someone for them to talk again.

Cedric looked at the golden egg, which glinted in the dim torchlight of the Prefect's bathroom from its comfortable position, perched on his clothes. With another sigh, he stepped out of the pool, shivering from the momentary cold as he grabbed his egg and slid along the wet tile before he jumped back into the bubbles, sending more golden butterflies into the air.

_I hope this works_, he thought. Following Moody's idea, he cracked the egg open, releasing the wailing and screaming sound around the cavernous bathroom, which magnified it so intensely that Cedric was sure it'd wake the whole castle. Faced with no other options, and wanting so desperately to cover his ears from the loud sounds, he dropped the egg and covered his ears. The egg sank to the bottom, but to Cedric's astonishment, didn't make the usual loud wail. Tentatively, he uncovered his ears, ready to put them back up at a second's notice.

The wailing at stopped, yet sound still came from the egg beneath the surface of the water. Slowly, Cedric took one ear and stuck it into the golden butterflies, into the water.

_It was singing. The egg was singing?_

Cedric listened intently, trying to discern what the raspy voice emanating from the egg was saying.

"_Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground  
And while you're searching ponder this,  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And to recover what we took,  
But past an hour- the prospect's black  
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back"_

Cedric listened to the song over and over and over again, dissecting it line by line by line, trying to discover the meaning of it. Voices sound? Where would their voices sound? And whose voices for that matter? How long? That was easy, but taking something he'd miss? Promise? Sam? He looked around aimlessly for a long time, feeling helpless. How would he know who they were or where to find… them…

That was when he noticed it, the very beautiful mermaid on the wall painting, flirtatiously looking at him, tossing her golden hair, even more energetically that she would normally do, when she would attract his attention everytime he had come into the bathroom. How could he have been so blind? So inattentive?

Sam and Promise.

They were consuming his focus! He needed to patch things with them. But why couldn't they understand? He coulnd't just blow off Cho Chang, even if she was an insufferable, giggly little airhead. Promise knew he'd much rather go with Sam! She knew! She was-

_Stop. Focus._

"Mermaids," he muttered aloud, causing the mermaid in the picture to giggle and clap her hands. But where were mermaids? The lake? The mermaids in the lakes were going to steal Sam and/or Promise?

He dove back into the water, closed the still singing egg, and brought it to the surface. Satisified with the work he had done, he stepped out of the bath, dried himself off, dressed and headed back to the Common Room, feeling somewhat relieved he had learned about the seconds task, but nervous about returning to the Common Room without the support of Sam or Promise to help him through the second task.

* * *

Several minutes later and hair still slightly wet, Cedric entered the Common Room, trekked up to his room, placed the egg on his bed, put the dirty clothes and damp towel in the basket for the House Elves to wash, and walked back down to the Common Room, joining Olivia at her table near the fire, sitting in the seat that faced away from Sam, Promise, and Fifth Year Hufflepuff Prefect Marcus Traston.

"So?" Olivia asked. "How was it?"

Cedric looked at her darkly, and then turned around, just in time to see Promise refocus her attention on her schoolwork and Sam and Marcus-

"Cedric," Olivia said, recapturing his focus, making him turn around to face her again. "What'd you find out?"

"I know what the second task is," Cedric said dismally, folding his arms and staring blankly at the table in front of him.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Olivia asked optimistically.

"I guess," Cedric said, looking in front of him, trying to find something to do. He sighed as he looked under the table for his bag. "I forgot my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework." He rose to leave from his dormitory.

"Cedric," Olivia said, arm snapping out and grabbing Cedric's, keeping him from walking away with the tight grip she had perfected over the many years of catching and throwing Quaffles. "Don't do this to yourself. Don't make yourself walk past them."

"Why?" Cedric asked, contemptuously looking at the arm holding him back.

"You're torturing yourself every tim you turn around, or go out of your way to look at them."

"What's your point?" Cedric asked, depressed.

"You don't deserve-"

"Deserve?" Cedric asked, rage trying to break through. "Deserve! I deserve the consequences of my actions. I did something that angered my friends and they have every right in the world to do whatever they want in retaliation."

"But you don't have to go out of your way to remind yourself of that!" Olivia said, voice raising not loud enough to be rude, but loud enough to let Cedric know if they weren't in such a closed environment, she'd have been shouting.

"Don't I?" Cedric asked, bringing the conflict internal, taking the volume from his voice, but leaving the bite. With a twist of his arm, he broke her lock on his and stomped up the dormitory stairs and out of the common room, not watching the stares of everyone in the Common Room, focusing instead on Promise, whose head was buried in her work, and Sam, who was cushioned in a small pouf on the ground, snogging with Marcus, both of whom were too busy focusing on not Cedric to notice his exit.

* * *

And life continued as it had, just like the two weeks before it. Cedric continued to walk through the halls, followed by his entourage of loyal followers to class every day, able to successfully avoid Cho Chang by conveniently talking to someone near him, like Olivia, or a member of the people around him, barely able to shout "I'll catch you later" or "I gotta run, catch me some other time?" before managing to whisk himself away.

Even as Cedric walked back to the Common Room near Promise after his last class on the final day of term, she still wasn't talking to him. He had hoped she'd understand, but, being Promise, she didn't.

"How could you do that?" She had shouted at him, following him into the Common Room mere seconds after Cho had finished asked him to the dance.

"What do you mean how could I do that?" Cedric asked, feeling sick.

"You just got asked to the dance by Cho Chang!" Promise shouted. "Cho Chang! You know who that girl is! How could you want to go with her more than Sam?"

"You think I wanted that?" Cedric shouted back. "You think I want to go with anyone _but _Sam?

"You don't know what I think!"

"I think I do," Cedric said contemptuously. "But you're not getting what I think. You think I was going to blow you off? I was fifteen feet from asking her. I was going to do it! I was ready to do it!"

"So why didn't you? You could've just said no! Why didn't you just say no and then go ask Sam?"

"I couldn't do that," Cedric shook his head.

"Why not?! It's Cho Chang, Cedric!"

"I got that," Cedric said, stomach churning at the mention of Cho's name. "But I'm not going to shoot anyone down, not when they make such an effort."

Promise shook her head. "you're so noble," she said sadly, walking away.

Cedric shook his head as he walked upstairs and set his bag down next to his bed. She hadn't talked to him since. Actually, that wasn't quite true. She had talked to him two days later, at the breakfast table, just as she was leaving to head off to her first class.

The reason she had spoken to him stemmed from the fact that there were very few open seats at the breakfast table that morning, and the last seat was next to Promise, who was sitting alone. He did his best to not look at her, figuring it was risky enough just sitting next to her.

When she had finished, Promise wiped her mouth with her napkin and placed it on her plate, magically vanishing it after a few seconds. With a satisfied sigh, she stood up, facing the Entrance Hall and, without talking to Cedric, and walked towards the end of the Great Hall.

Cedric looked up to watch her go, piece of toast in his mouth, but was pleasantly surprised to see Calvin Parker, the seventh year Head Boy from Ravenclaw block Promise's path.

"Excuse me," she said, moving to her left, stepping out of his way.

With a smile, he sidled a step to his right, still in Promise's way.

Thinking she had simply moved in synch with him, Promise smiled, humored and moved back to the right, to her original position. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he smiled back, amused, stepping back into her path.

Promise laughed, entertained by the confusion. "Stop it will you?" she stepped to her left, hoping this nonsense would finally stop.

"But I don't want to…" Calvin smiled, stepping back in front of her.

Promise sighed and rolled her eyes, large smile on her face as she began to step back and forth in a rhythm, Calvin following her movement. "Fine then. What do you want?"

"Oh," Calvin said, not making eye contact as he swayed back and forth. "it's nothing… well, actually… it's _some_thing… but I-"

"Spit it out!" Promise said, still swaying.

"Well I was just wondering…" Calvin began, voice trailing off, making Cedric realize Calvin was play acting meek and not in control. "Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Of all the things Promise had expected, this was probably the one she had expected least. It took her by such surprise, in fact, that always perfectly cool, calm, and collected Promise missed a step in her dance and tripped, slipping on the step to her right. To counteract her mistake, she used her left foot to sidle behind her right and then the added momentum to finally catch herself on her right, completing a simple sort of grapevine.

Not missing a beat, Calvin followed her step, mirroring her steps a half instant later for the first, but then mimicking the new step on the next round.

"What?" Promise asked, smiling in disbelief.

"Judging by your reaction, I think you heard me just fine," Calvin smiled back, now locking eyes with her.

Promise smiled sheepishly, shaking her head in disbelief, swaying back and fort. "Fine," she said, playing hard to get and impress. "But only because you made me laugh."

Calvin held out his hand, which Promise took, twirled her under his arm, spinning her around, and, when she had finished the turn, kissed her on the hand. "I can't wait," he said, and, with a turn, he exited the hall, spring in his step.

Promise sighed again, even more satisfied. Hesitantly, Cedric stood up and watched after Calvin Parker, who had just met with three other seventh year Ravenclaw boys.

"Are you alright?" Cedric asked her, as she kept her eyes on Calvin.

"Hm what?" Promise asked dreamily. "Yeah. It's just a weird thing. This whole time I thought I was going to the ball solo or something."

"Please," Cedric rolled his eyes. "There are tons of people who would go with you to the ball. You're smart, funny…"

"But it's the ball, Cedric," Promise looked at him sarcastically. "You know how much a dance is something I wouldn't do."

"But you are now."

"Well I figured I'd do it in the end. I mean, I wouldn't have done it normally, but this is perhaps the only dance we'll ever have at Hogwarts."

"And still you're going…"

"Shut up!" Promise said, insulted. "That doesn't mean anything. It just means I like to be normal sometimes."

Cedric released a hearty, loud laugh, to which Promise shot him a look. "Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to-"

"You don't think I can like normal things?"

"I never said that!"

Promise looked at him, smiling slightly. "But you implied it. I like the thought of nonconformism."

And with that, she really did exit the Great Hall. Cedric had hoped that would patch up things with her, but in the end, he came to the realization that she was so elated Calvin Parker had asked her to the dance. She was springy for the rest of the day, which helped Cedric almost forget why he was so upset.

It was Sam who really killed him. Within two hours after Cho had asked Cedric, Sam had asked Marcus, and in half that time they were already cuddling in front of the fire during the lunch period. By the night Calvin had asked Promise to the ball, Sam was already snogging with Marcus in what came to be known as "Promise's corner," a lovely, yet lonely, corner of the Common Room where Promise studied nightly, snapping at anyone who interrupted her work by doing anything from talking to her to touching her table or chair in any way.

Cedric looked down into the Common Room, back in the present, where Promise greeted Sam and Marcus, who, like everytime Cedric happened to see them, walked into the Common Room hand in hand. For a brief second, Sam made eye contact with Cedric, eyes breaking the giggling for a second, turning remorseful for an instant before she realized Marcus was kissing her neck. They closed and a smile of ecstasy broke across his face.

Slowly, he descended the staircase, coming even with Olivia.

"Ignore them," Olivia said pityingly.

"Why?" Cedric asked.

"We talked about this," Olivia said passively, not argumentative.

"Right," Cedric said wearily, unconvinced.

"Come on, Cedric," Olivia said pleadingly. "Let's just go. I don't even know why we came to dinner so early."

Without looking over to Sam, Promise, and Marcus, he walked out of the Common Room, skirting past a few third years in the process as he cut a path to the Entrance Hall, not waiting for Olivia. As he entered the cavernous Entrance Hall, he slowed down and sighed.

"Will you slow down?" Olivia asked him. "You flew out of there like a broomstick from hell."

Cedric flashed her something between a grimace and a smile. "Olivia, I-"

"'ello Cedric," a voice came from behind him, exiting from the Great Hall. Cedric turned around, coming face to face with silver hair and a pretty face. "'ow are you, Cedric?" Fleur Delacour asked, smiling flirtatiously.

"Okay," Cedric said, overexaggerating slightly as he looked past her, noticing her followers of Beauxbatons girls and the slowly growing crowd of students around two Triwizard champions. "It's just been rough for the past two weeks."

"Oh," Fleur sighed, sending a ripple of similar sentiments through the small crowd. "I'm vehry sohry to 'ear zat, Cedric. Is zhere anyzhing I can do to 'elp?"

Other people echoed her feelings: "Yeah Cedric!" "Do you want some pumpkin juice from dinner?" "Did you eat yet? I can get you food."

Cedric waved them all off, smiling in embarrassment. "Really, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about it."

"I'm sure I could 'elp," Fleur smiled, flipping her hair, and causing a pang of desire to shoot through Cedric's chest.

"Hey Fleur!" someone shouted from across the Entrance Hall.

Everyone in the hall turned to face the tall, gangly, red-headed fourth year Cedric recognized as Gryffindor Ron Weasley. The hall fell silent as Gryffindors who had begun descending the marble staircase came to a dead halt, while Fleur's entourage and the surrounding crowd fell deathly silent, wondering what someone like Ron would want with Fleur.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?"

A silence fell over the crowd as the weight of the words Ron had just spoken sank into everyone's minds. In unison, Fleur, the people in the group around her and Cedric, and Olivia all burst into raucous fits of laughter, sending a suddenly green-faced Ron weak in the knees. The Gryffindors at the entrance to the Great Hall sprinted to Ron and helped him to his feel, up the marble staircase, and out of sight.

"Zat," Fleur chuckled, wiping her eyes when the laughter had died down. "Is why I enjoy boys asking girls to zee ball. Many do not understand who zhey can ask and who zhey cannot. Girls, on zhe ozher hand, can ask whoever zhey want and still feel good about zhemselves. Besides, most boys jump at zhe prospect of 'aving to ask. Isn't zhat right, Cedric?"

Several of the male students following Fleur looked at the ground, feeling embarrassed at something while the Beauxbatons girls all giggled to each other.

"Er… yeah, I guess," Cedric shrugged. "I personally would never say no to a girl who asked me."

Fleur smile as she brought her hand up and, with a slight twang of a flick, sexily tucker her hair behind her ear. "Zhen, my dear Cedric, would you like to go to zhe Yule Ball with me?"

Cedric smiled and shook his head, eyes closed. "I'm sorry, Fleur, but I'm afraid I can't."

A ripple of whispers and deep-sounding murmurs flitted through the crowd: "What did he just say?" "No?" "What is he? Crazy?" "I wish I could ask Cedric."

Fleur's face soured. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can't," Cedric smiled weakly. "Someone else already asked me, you see."

"What?" Fleur asked, losing her usual, beautiful composure.

"I said I wouldn't say no to anyone who asked me, but that only really works for the first person to ask."

"But when was zhis?" Fleur asked, sending more ripples through the crowd. "Who asked you?"

"It was about two weeks ago. Someone named-"

"Hi, Cedric!"

Every face in the Entrance Hall turned to the doors to the Great Hall, where Cho Chang, followed by a small gaggle of giggling Fifth Year Ravenclaw girls, had just appeared at the top of the staircase. Briskly, she cut a path directly towards Cedric through the crowd, everyone stepping aside, anxious to see how Fleur would treat her supposed "competition."

"Zhis is her?" Fleur asked, pleasantly, too pleasantly, having used Cho's entrance to regain her composure.

"Er… yeah," Cedric said as Cho, who had finally taken a spot next to him, reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

Blushing slightly, Cho turned to face Fleur, takin Cedric's hand in hers. "Oh, hello! Fleur Delacour, right?" Cho asked brightly. "Beauxbatons champion? Tranced the dragon at the first task. Heard all about you, of course. You're an amazing person and a great spellcaster, although you kind of have to be to be Champion from Beauxbatons, don't you? I can't wait to see what you do for the second task! Any idea what it'll be? Either of you?"

Fleur smiled nicely, but indignantly amid the chatter of talk about the second task. "We're not supposed to-"

"Talk about it, I know," Cho rolled her eyes. "But it would still be nice to know. Just one little hint? Please?"

"I do not zhink so," Fleur's voice trailed off unpleasantly. Cedric might have recognized the annoyance in Fleur's voice if he hadn't been so focused on how much he didn't enjoy Cho stroking his hand with her thumb and forefinger."

"Well that's a shame now, isn't it?" Cho frowned. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

"I guess so," Fleur smiled. "Now if you will excuse me, I must return to my school's carriage and understand why zhings are zhe way zhings are." She looked deliberately at Cedric, making a deliberate reference to Cho Chang, referring to how he could have possibly chosen Cho over her.

With a flourish, she turned and exited, followed by the Beauxbatons students. Slowly, the rest of the crowd dispersed, everyone taking a few extra seconds to take a look at Cho Chang and nod congratulations to Cedric before heading to the Great Hall and dinner. Within a minute, Cedric, Cho Chang, and Olivia were the only ones left in the Entrance Hall.

Turning away from Cedric, Cho nestled into him, wrapping his arms around her stomach and clasping his hands into her own. "She was nice. Any idea what she wanted?"

"She tried to ask me to the dance," Cedric said awkwardly, not wanting to stand with Cho so intimately, but also unable to break the hold. Olivia took a few steps towards the marble staircase and began to softly beat her head on the banister repeatedly, waiting for brains or blood to come out.

"Awww," Cho moaned. "What's too bad. Looks like I'm the lucky one, though. Just goes to show you, you gotta act fast. Early bird and all that."

_You can say that again_, Cedric thought.

"Speaking of," Cho said, biting her lip playfully, flirtatiously. "Know who just asked me?"

"No, who?" Cedric asked, really not caring deep down, instead more concerned about the state of Olivia's head.

"Harry Potter," Cho said, smiling, obviously positively thrilled at the prospect of potentially going with him.

"Really?" Cedric asked, suddenly intrigued. If only he had asked Sam sooner, and if only Harry had taken the chance… win-win, win-win. Promise would be talking to him… he could be with Sam…

"Yes!" Cho said proudly. "Can you believe that? He would've been so fun to go with too… Wonder who he'll end up going with."

"Yeah, I guess," Cedric said, closing his eyes, fantasizing at the thought of the win-win win-win situation that was playing out in his mind, daydreaming about what might have been.

"But we're going together, and we're going to have such fun!" Cho said brightly.

"Mmm," Cedric sighed, still focusing on his daydream, not paying the slightest bit of attention to what Cho was saying.

"And then we can go to Hogsmeade together… and then summer… and then next year…"

"Mmmm," Cedric sighed again, still not focused on Cho.

A whimper came from across the hall. Cedric opened his eyes and looked down, making them level with the people who had just entered the Entrance Hall from the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

The whimper could have only possibly come from Sam, who stood in the doorway to the Entrance Hall, lip trying not to tremble, holding hand with Marcus, who stood next to her, looking like Cedric had just lost his respect. With the faintest of cries, Sam broke her hold on Marcus's hand and looked away, withdrawing into herself.

Cedric broke his hold with Cho, stepping away from her slightly. Promise, who was standing next to Sam and Marcus glared at Cedric, shaking her head. Cedric made to take a step towards Promise. Maybe he could reason with her, let her know he wasn't the one who had done that with Cho.

Promise whipped out her wand and pointed it at Cedric murderously. "Don't even," she said, insulted.

"Promise, I-" Cedric tried to take another step towards her.

"You know what, Cedric? Promise asked venomously. "Don't even say anything. I get it. You don't listen, and you don't value me-"

"Hey, what's this all about?" Cho interjected.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Sam snapped angrily, the usual "sweetheart" gone from her voice.

"But I didn't-"

"What did I say?" Sam asked bitterly. "Come on, Marcus." Without waiting, she took off back into the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Olivia, who had stood in shock at the marble staircase when Sam, Promise, and Marcus had entered, reached out to Sam, sad, remorseful look on her face.

"Don't, Olivia," Sam stopped, holding up her hands as though violated. "I know what I saw, and I know when my friends lie to me." And without another word, she disappeared down the hallway.

"I'm, ummmm…" Marcus said awkwardly. "I'm with the blonde."

He left after Sam, leaving Cho, Cedric, and Olivia looking at Promise awkwardly. They stayed silent for several minutes not knowing what to do.

Slowly, Promise lowered her wand. "You know who she is," she said, indicating Cho, locking eyes with Cedric.

"What does that mean?" Cho asked, confused.

"It means I don't approve and Cedric agrees with me."

"Cedric?" Cho asked hopelessly.

"Cho," Cedric said, hesitating. "Cho, I-"

But she had already sprinted away, up the marble staircase to her Common Room, out of sight, crying dramatically.

"You know, I didn't think you were into it," Promise said. "I thought maybe you were regretful or didn't want to go with her."

Olivia tried to step in. "He doesn't-"

"Leave, Olivia," Promise commanded angrily, superiorly, keeping her eyes locked with Cedric's.

"But-"

"Leave!" Promise shouted.

Tentatively, Olivia headed back to the hallway that led to the Hufflepuff Common Room, hopefully to try to talk to Sam leaving Cedric and promise alone in the Entrance Hall.

Promise took a step towards Cedric, folding her arms across her chest, nodding slowly, contemplatively, digesting what she had just seen.

"Promise, I didn't mean to-"

"Get caught?" Promise said, completely in control of the situation. "I'm sure you didn't mean for that."

"No," Cedric said, hopelessly defensive. "It just… happened."

"That's how it always is, isn't it, Ced?" Things just happen to you. Know why things do, Ced? You're too passive. You just go with the flow, not wanting to hurt anyone outright. I'm sure she crawled into your arms, and I'm sure if you'd have noticed you woulda done something about it. But you didn't, and now it looks even worse for you. She's nuts about you, you know."

"Right, sure. It's not like she'd speak to mea anyway."

"I was talking about Cho Chang."

"Oh," Cedric said, humbled.

"I mean, she's really hurting right now. Why else do you think she's gotten so physical all of a sudden?"

"Cho?"

"No, Sam."

"But I thought we were-"

"We were, but you thought about Sam so I switched to Sam."

"Oh."

Promise looked away, blanketing them in silence for a few seconds. "I hate her," she said under her breath.

"Sam?!"

"No, Cho," Promise snapped quietly.

"Okay, we're sticking with Cho," Cedric said, clarifying the issue.

"Fine."

"Fine."

They fell silent again, staring at each other, unsure what to say next.

"She's really into you," Promise said grimly.

"I know," Cedric sighed sadly, looking away and at the ground.

"It'll need to stop," Promise said after a brief pause.

"I know, but not until after the dance. I already said I'd go with her, so I kind of have to."

Promise shook her head. "I can't deal with that."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's one of the reasons I love you so much," Promise looked up, thinking about what she had just said. "It's also kind of why I hate you so much. It's just damn annoying."

"Sorry."

"What'd I just say?"

"Sor-" Cedric paused and chuckled slightly. "I'm still going to make the best of it," he said after a minute.

"Wouldn't expect anything less of you," Promise smiled slightly. "But I can't be a part of it."

"But I want you there," Cedric pleaded, heart breaking. He had hoped Promise would be with him, to crack jokes about all the dress robes, to laugh at all the bad dancing moves, to sing along to the songs intentionally off key…

"I can't deal with it, Ced," Promise shook her head. "I'll just wait and see you on the other side of the ball. Things'll be better when Cho Chang is gone and out of our hair, but that can't happen… you won't let that happen until after the dance. I respect you for it and you're amazing for being able to do it, but I can't. I can't do that at all."

And with that, she left for the Hufflepuff Common Room, leaving Cedric standing in the Entrance Hall, alone.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Cedric, or the Yule Ball, or Cho Chang. None of that. That's silly. Instead, I own this beautiful chapter... Of beautifulness... And Promise... Who's pretty... Very pretty

* * *

**Chapter 13  
Presents**

Because of the number of students staying at Hogwarts over the holiday, the Hufflepuff Common Room was packed all throughout the days leading up to the Yule Ball, always into the late hours of the night, often into the wee hours of the morning, and, on occasion, until sunrise. In the absence of homework, students became rowdy, talking amongst themselves, shouting or arguing about games they played, or even, in very rare cases, studying or reading. Some even disappeared for hours at a time to go to the halls and play hide and seek inside the castle, in which the hiders had to contend with not only the seeker, but also the wrath of Filch and Mrs. Norris, which helped to add another layer of intrigue and excitement to the already challengingly massive scale of the game.

Cedric did his best to stay cheery. He accomplished this by going to bed early, getting plenty of rest, and then waking up at sunrise to travel down to the Common Room, where he sat for several hours in silence until it began to fill up around ten or until Olivia woke up and came down to meet him, whichever came first.

The reason for his pattern was two fold: to keep himself in shape for when classes started again, and to avoid the attention that came with the school confirming the wild rumor that Cedric was undoubtedly going to the Yule Ball with Cho Chang and that Cedric had chosen her over Fleur Delacour.

"It was a tough decision, Ced," Patrick Rondheimer said, clapping Cedric on the shoulder in the Common Room two days after Cedric's confrontation with Promise. "But I think I would've gone with Chang in the end. It's kinda intimidating going with someone older than you, you know?"

Cedric looked at him suspiciously. "How would you know?"

Patrick smirked intelligently. "I asked Alicia Knowlings to the Ball."

"The seventh year Slytherin? I thought she was taken."

"I asked a while ago," he said, still smirking.

And the conversations continued, Hufflepuff boys of all ages patting him on the back for such a successful "conquest."

"Lucky guy! I could only get someone from Gryffindor!"

"You'll tell us how it is, right, Ced?"

"Are you ready for the opening dance?"

"What color are your dress robes? Do they match her? I'm sure you'll look fantastic!"

It was the most frequent question they asked, and it was the one question he refused to answer. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell people about his slate blue dress robes. To the contrary, he couldn't wait for everyone to see the robes he had bought for Promise's parents' Christmas party from the year before, but he wanted it to be a surprise, and he wanted to see how everyone else was dressed, which he couldn't know. If other people told them their colors, he would be obligated to reveal his robes.

The thing that excited Cedric more than anything else was in wondering about who was going with whom. It was all very interesting to see how some of the outgoing boys turned shy in the face of danger and didn't get "favorable" partners, although Cedric always pointed out to them, they'd have a good time regardless of their choice in date.

"Easy for you to say," Tony Bronstone said. "You're going with Cho Chang."

* * *

The absence of Sam and Promise still took its toll on Cedric. Were it not for Olivia, he was sure he would've gone mad with the stress of dealing with buildup to the Yule Ball, which he found himself looking forward to more and more each day. The more he thought about spending a night dancing and listening to the music of a band Professor Dumbledore was supposed to have handpicked (going rumor was the _The Weird Sisters_), the more anxious he was for Christmas to come. Even though he was going with Cho Chang, his resolution to make the best of the night helped propel him through the week between the end of term and Christmas.

Because of the constant congestion of the common room and the fact that Cedric didn't feel like running around the castle with anyone except for Promise and Sam and Olivia when they were together, Cedric spent time in the library, away from Sam and Promise, whom he stayed away from so he could focus at getting through the Yule Ball. It didn't help they always happened to walk up just as someone was congratulating Cedric and walked out without saying a word to Cedric.

But in Cedric's mind, it didn't matter. Promise and Sam would come back after the Yule Ball and it'd be like nothing had ever happened before and they'd still be friends, best friends. It would be joyous to talk about everything that had happened since Cho had asked him and they could finally start getting to work on figuring out how to survive underwater for an hour in the second task.

"I have no ideas," Olivia said, leaning back in a library chair the first Monday of break when Cedric finally got around to telling her. "Nothing."

Cedric nodded silently. The thought of going under water and having to not only risk his life, but the life of someone else didn't appeal to him.

Assuming the mermaids took someone.

"You could transfigure yourself into something that can breathe underwater," Olivia suggested half-heartedly. "Like a goldfish."

Cedric shook his head. "I wouldn't trust myself with human transfiguration. That's a really advanced concept I don't know yet. It's something for me to learn next year, and not really do-able before the second task."

Olivia frowned. "Promise knows more spells than I do."

"But you're here now. So come on. What can we use?"

"Human transfiguration."

"You already said-"

"What color are your dress robes?"

Cedric looked at her, confused. "Why do you want to know the color of my dress robes?"

"I'm curious. You haven't told anyone. I asked Promise, but she just smirked and walked off. The least you could do for me after helping you through this is tell me."

Cedric smiled, slightly embarrassed. "They're really not that much of a big deal."

"They're a big enough deal for you to not talk about them."

Cedric eyes her suspiciously. "I want people to be surprised."

"After all this hype, I'll say they'll be surprised. So why not tell me? I'm not going to tell anyone."

"But that's no fun," Cedric said playfully. "Why would I only tell you? You're one of the people I want to surprise the most. You and Sam."

"Now you sound like Promise," Olivia said, amused.

Cedric sighed. "I guess I do. But I still wanna see how people look without forming a picture in my mind ahead of time."

Olivia thought about it for a few seconds. "I see your point, but it still just makes me want to see your dress robes more."

Cedric leaned in, smiling. "You'll like them. Promise did."

"Wait, Promise has seen your dress robes?"

"Of course. Promise makes it a point to see things she wants to. That… and there was a party at her parent's house last year."

"You've been to Promise's house?"

"Well sure," Cedric shrugged. "Haven't you ever been to Sam's house?"

"Of course! We're like, best friends."

"Same principle. Except I've only been to Promise's house once."

"Tell me about it," Olivia said, expectantly.

"Maybe some other time," Cedric said wistfully, brushing the nostalgic story aside temporarily. "It's far too good a story for me to ruin on a cold day in the library."

"Hi, Cedric," Cho said as she sat down in the chair across the table from him.

"Hi, Cho," Cedric said sheepishly, embarrassedly. It was the first time he'd spoken to her in three days, since Promise had insulted her and she ran away to Ravenclaw tower. "How are you doing?"

"Better. Thanks," Cho said, not making eye contact with him, and instead staring blankly at the front cover of the library copy of _The Winged Westimule of Wattlemar_ she held in her hands. "How have things been?"

"They've been better," Cedric said optimistically. "But, then again, they could be a lot worse. I mean, I could have no date to the Yule Ball and be going solo."

Cho grinned in spite of herself. "Don't be silly. I'm surprised you weren't taken sooner. I thought for sure you'd be gone when I asked you."

"Blame Promise," Olivia muttered under her breath.

Cho looked at her, concerned. "What do you mean."

Olivia looked at her, venom in her eyes barely noticeable. "I mean-"

"That Promise was warding off other people with a sort of not-Promise thing she was doing," Cedric said, not trusting Olivia to finish the sentence. "If I didn't know better, I'd have said that Promise didn't want me to go with anyone and would have rather seen me dancing alone on the dance floor at the beginning."

"You wouldn't have danced alone," Cho said vaguely. "You could have asked any girl watching your first dance to join you and she would've left her date in an instant. You're more popular than you give yourself credit for."

Cedric shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "But that would've meant taking someone else's date, and I don't do that."

"Why not?" Cho asked, slightly confused. "I would've joined you."

"But what about your date?" Cedric asked. "What would he have had to say about you dancing with me?"

Cho paused for a minute. "You know I never thought about that. It's a good point."

"That, and it would've caused all sort of scandal for the school," Olivia smirked.

Cedric shot Olivia a look. "What do you mean?"

"Well whoever you chose, because you could choose anybody, would either be a really, really good friend like Promise, or someone you like."

Cho looked at Cedric suspiciously. "So, Cedric?"

Cedric's stomach dropped slightly. "Yeah?"

"Who would you have danced with if you had gone alone?"

Cedric and Olivia exchanged glances instantly, both knowing the answer. _Sam. I would've danced with Sam. But if I hadn't known Sam, I would've danced with Promise, because it worked at her parents' party_. He rephrased the answer differently in his head, but given the fact he didn't want to ruin Cho's day, he blurted out the only words he could've imagined saying to her. "You, probably."

Olivia's face went gray and stony, but Cedric didn't pay attention, he was too busy telling a half-lie to Cho.

"Really?" Cho asked, elated. "You really would've danced with me?"

Cedric half-nodded, still half-regretting what he just said. "You always say hi and you're really nice to me. If you were in the front, I probably would've spotted you and chose you."

Cho smiled brightly. "Then I'm glad we're going together."

Olivia sighed heavily and stood up from her chair.

"Where-"

"To find a book about fresh air," Olivia said, not looking at Cedric and already heading towards the stacks.

The silence between Cedric and Cho that followed was nothing short of awkward. Cedric sat there for a few minutes, trying not to look at Cho, instead looking at a small roll of parchment upon which Olivia and he had scribbled notes about what to do in the second task.

"So how are we going to meet up?" Cho asked, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"For the ball? How are we going to meet up on Christmas?"

"Entrance hall?" Cedric asked, saying the first place that came to mind.

Cho gave a half-hearted groan. "Everyone's going to meet in the Entrance Hall. It'll take a long time to find you."

"I could go to Ravenclaw Tower," Cedric suggested just as half-heartedly. The Entrance Hall sounded like a good idea, people would be there and he wouldn't have to be alone with Cho, or at least, more alone than he'd have to be.

"Really? You'd walk all the way to my Common Room?"

"Well I won't come inside," Cedric said jokingly, but still somewhat disenchanted with the thought of traveling all the way to Ravenclaw Tower just to pick up Cho.

Cho smiled and her shoulders shrugged in response to the butterflies Cedric suspected were fluttering in her stomach. "Thanks, Cedric."

"It's no problem," Cedric said, trying his best not to slip into a monotone. "How do I get there?"

"It's at the end of a corridor on the fourth floor. You need to travel down the fourth corridor hallway, turn left at the picture of the family at the picnic, a right at the end of the corridor, another left once you get to the statue of Ivan the Ingenious. I'll be waiting for you outside the common room, which is guarded by the portrait of a school of fish."

"Alright," Cedric said, slowly, committing Cho's directions to memory.

"So I'll see you then?" Cho asked.

"If I don't see you first," Cedric said, smiling as best he could.

With a giggle, Cho turned around and had walked no more than five feet, when four other girls appeared, all speaking quickly, chattering about what Cho had just said.

Within seconds, Olivia walked back up to Cedric and sat down, holding her right hand to her head, eyebrows raised.

"You okay?" Cedric asked.

"Shhhh!" Olivia hushed him. "I'm waiting for this headache to go down."

"Your what?"

"Shhhh! My head hurts!"

"Why?"

"Because you lied to her."

Cedric stayed silent for a few seconds, wondering if he should really tell her what he had just realized. "Actually, I wasn't."

"Ow," Olivia said, wincing more as her "headache" grew in strength.

"A few weeks ago I never would have asked her, but now…" Cedric's voice trailed off. "I'm not quite sure. I might have asked her."

"What about Sam?"

"Of course there's Sam," Cedric said defiantly. "But that still doesn't mean if she was already taken I'd have asked her."

"What?"

"What I mean to say is, I might have asked Cho if I didn't really have any other options."

"By other options you mean Sam, Promise, or me, right?"

"I guess," Cedric said.

Olivia sighed. "You really are going to make the best of Sunday, aren't you?"

* * *

On Christmas morning, it was a chill that awoke Cedric to a pile of presents at the foot of his bed, Dani the owl perched on top, a fancy red and green cloth bow tied around her neck. She chirped a good morning to him softly, so as not to wake the other boys in his dormitory.

"Morning, Dani," Cedric smiled groggily as he reached into his nightstand and pulled open a drawer, revealing a bag of owl treats. Dani chirped again and took a few hops up the bed towards Cedric's stomach. "And Merry Christmas to you too." He unrolled the bag, poured a few treats into his hand, and held them out for Dani to eat. She plopped her beak into Cedric's palm and began to eat greedily. "Love you too, dear," Cedric said, rolling up the bag and patted her on the head with his free hand. "Know if anything good came?" Dani cooed a response between nibbles. "I hope so," Cedric sighed. "I could use some cheering up." Dani looked up at him with her big, knowledgeable owl eyes. "Don't look at me that way," Cedric said, gently hugging his pet. "Now shoo. I have things to take care of, and you have a party to celebrate in the Owlrey." Dani cocked her head to one side in response. Cedric frowned. "Don't tell me you think I don't know what goes on in there." Dani stared at him blankly. "Fine, fine. Deny all you want, still won't change the fact I know what's really going on. So go. Enjoy your Christmas!" Dani clicked her beak trice, nibbled the index finger Cedric was using to stroke her wing and flapped off out of the barely open window, which was letting in just enough crisp air to awaken anyone in its path.

With a sigh, Cedric began the arduous process of opening his pile of parcels, smiling fondly and thinking of the person who sent each one. He opened Cho's first. She had sent him a small glass figurine of a dragon, which she said in her card to him was an original creation of hers, and because of that, she had defined it as a symbol of good luck, which led her to the conclusion that he should carry the glass dragon in his pocket at all times, especially at the Ball that evening. Olivia had sent him a book entitled _Advanced Quidditch Stratagems_, which Cedric recognized as the book Promise had shown to him at Diagon Alley during their shopping trip. Sam gave him a box full of chocolate frogs; she also made sure they came complete with a variety of fruit flavored gummy flies to keep the frogs entertained while they waited to be eaten. Rumor was if you got the right fruit flies, not only would they create odd flavors to mix in with the chocolate, but they'd also change the wizard card inside. Most collectors considered this cheating, but Cedric figured the fruit flies didn't really change much for the casual collectors, like him. His parents sent him a half-filled photo album of pictures dating all the way back to the few years he had spent in the daycare before Hogwarts and up until the summer, the last of which was a picture of him and Promise in the front lawn, reading books and laughing about something or another. Cedric thought for a minute before he remembered the joke. "So an American cowboy accidentally walks into a Leaky Cauldron… and carries it around his legs like chaps for the rest of the day."

But it was Promise's book that he had been looking forward to most. She always sent him two things: a really well thought out something Cedric would enjoy, hidden in the façade of a fake sounding product, and a book. This year, she sent him a bottle of homemade dragon repellant, which was, in actuality, a very nice smelling cologne of her own original creation. That was cute. But every year Promise sent Cedric a book she designed and wrote herself that was based on a pre-established fake imprint she had designed in their second year. Somehow (Cedric had never asked) Promise managed to get it professionally bound, printed up, sent directly to him. This was the fifth in Promise's series of self-help books she had affectionately titled _The Pretty Boy's Guide To…_ and signed under the penname Richard K. Snootlebottom. This year she had written _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Getting the Girl in the End_. When he looked at it, Cedric laughed, making the other boys in the dormitory grumble and grunt responses, still asleep.

Tiptoeing, Cedric picked up his book and went down into the Common Room, preparing to do what he did every year: read Promise's massive five hundred page survival guide. Cedric had asked her where she had come up with the ideas and time to write such a monster of a book, but everytime she just laughed at him and walked away.

Cedric snuggled himself into a chair, cracked open page one, and began reading. It never ceased to amaze him just how much time and effort Promise had put into the book. In fact, it was so good Cedric truly wasn't sure whether or not Promise had actually collected real interviews from real life pretty boys who had experienced what Cedric had.

Slowly people began to file into the common room, each one incredibly intent on seeing what Professor Snootlebottom had sent Cedric this year.

It was a well-kept secret between them. Cedric hadn't really figured out about Promise's books until last year at her parent's Christmas party, and every year there was a huge commotion and hubbub to find out what was going on with Professor Snootlebottom. People did research, but never found anything conclusive that the book had actually been published or that Professor Snootlebottom actually existed.

Cedric sat in his comfortable chair all day, curled up by the fire, reading the book contentedly, laughing and letting other people read passages he had already read, and had gotten up to chapter six by the time he needed to go get changed and ready for the Yule Ball, which would start in just a little over an hour.

He set his book on his bed and pulled out his dress robes, took off his day robes and began to dress as he was pulling on his socks, the rest of the sixth year Hufflepuff boys walked in, chatting quickly and happily about the night's upcoming events.

"So excited!" Terrence Clamp said. "I still can't believe I'm going with Julie Michaels!"

"Lucky stiff," Patrick Rondheimer mumbled. "I have to meet my date in the Entrance Hall. Good luck wading my way through that."

"Well at least I'm going with Lindsay Engvall," Aaron Baldwin smirked. "I don't have to go out there. I can walk into the Entrance Hall with my date on my arm, looking masterful, in charge."

"Isn't that Cedric's job?" Tony Bornstone asked sarcastically, looking at Cedric.

"What? No!" Cedric said, now in his dress robes, placing The Pretty Boy's Guide to Getting Girls in the End as the fifth in the series, looking vaguely at the other books in the set: _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Surviving Quidditch_, _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Learning How to Mess Around in Class_, _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Enjoying Normal Things_, and _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Living Through Classy Social Gatherings_. "But Cho asked if I would be willing to pick her up at Ravenclaw Tower so we wouldn't have to look for each other in the Entrance Hall. I don't want to be late, you know."

"Of course, Cedric," Terrence grinned. "So you're heading out?"

"Guess so," Cedric said, as he tied his shoelaces.

"Knock 'em dead, man," Aaron smiled, patting Cedric on the back as he walked past, leaving the dormitory and then the Common Room.

The hallways were eerily empty. Walking up four flights of stairs, making a right, then a left, then a right was unnatural, not something Cedric wanted to experience regularly. It was very seldom one could walk through the halls and not encounter a single soul. Even the ghosts were gone, and they were never gone.

Cedric's thoughts drifted back to what his roommates had said as he was leaving. Many Hufflepuffs had complained over the course of the past few days about entering the Entrance Hall through the side door that led to the kitchens. Some plotted to meet their dates somewhere like the library or another empty classroom so they could make a regal entrance down the marble staircase like the Ravenclaws or the Gryffindors. Most decided against this, however, passing it off as one of the "curses of being in Hufflepuff."

Cedric disagreed with everyone on all these points. The night wasn't about the entrance or the flair of the dress robes, although they were incredibly intricate and beautiful. No. It was more about the experience and the time at the dance.

It was like dating Sam. It wasn't about where they went or what they did. They could have gone to the Hog's Head pub in the middle of a bar fight for all he cared. That didn't matter to him. What was important was spending time with Sam. As long as he got to do that, he'd be happy, no matter where he was.

With a final left after the statue of Ivan the Ingenious, Cedric reached the corridor of the Ravenclaw Common Room, signified by a large portrait of a school of fish at the wall on the end. Standing there, near another portrait, this one of famous Quidditch stars flipping a coin at the beginning of a sort of All-Star World Cup, stood Cho, looking very pretty, bedecked in dress robes of a light blue-ish lilac.

She smiled when she saw him, decked in slate blue robes. "Hi Cedric," she said blushingly as she walked down the corridor alone to meet him, curiously not surrounded by her usual plethora of girls. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too," Cedric smiled back, holding out his arm gentlemanly for her to take as she approached.

"I didn't see you at breakfast or lunch this morning," Cho said sweetly as she took his arm. "Where were you?"

"Reading a book Promise got me for Christmas."

"And how is Promise?"

"Wouldn't know," Cedric said offhandedly. "I haven't talked to her much lately."

"Really?" Cho asked, looking at him sadly. "That's a shame."

Cedric smiled, nodding depressingly. "Tell me about it. So how has your day been?"

"Good," Cho said assuredly. "I've enjoyed myself for the most part thus far. I went to the library with a few of my friends for about an hour, and then I went to my room to get ready, and that took a few hours and now I'm here. Most of the people in my house were almost ready when I stepped outside to wait for you. And now I'm here."

"That's good, that's good," Cedric said casually as they began to walk down the steps leading to the Entrance Hall. "So… get anything as cool as a book by a Professor Richard K. Snootlebottom?"

Cho laughed loudly, yet genuinely. "No! And that's the most preposterous name I've ever heard. Who gave you that?"

"Couldn't say…" Cedric's voice trailed off vaguely.

Cho looked at him suspiciously. "So you do know who sent it to you?"

"Maybe…" Cedric said, just as vaguely.

"What's the book called?"

"_The Pretty Boy's Guide to Getting the Girl In the End_."

Cho eyed him suspiciously again. "How many of these books has Promise sent you?"

Cedric stopped for a second. "Promise? Whoever said Promise gives me these books?"

Cho smiled knowingly. "First off, Promise has a special sort of sense of humor, one that no one can really replicate, and second there's only one person on the planet who'd send you something with the title "Pretty Boy" in it."

Cedric laughed. Perhaps she was smarter than he and Promise had given her credit for. "That's pretty good, but don't tell anyone, it's our little secret."

"Why not tell people?" Cho asked, confused.

"It's a secret. Promise denied it every year until last Christmas when it sort of… slipped out."

"If you say so," Cho said as they finally reached the marble staircase and descended down it into the half-full Entrance Hall.

People chattered as Cedric and Cho walked through the crowd, Cedric looked around casually for Sam, Olivia, and Promise, but after a few seconds of not seeing them, he focused on the chatter and compliments people threw his way.

"Beautiful dress robes, Cedric! They bring out the blue in your eyes."

"They match!" Someone squealed. "Isn't that precious?"

Cedric winced at that comment. He only had one set of dress robes, and he'd had them for over a year.

Slowly, the hall began to fill up. Cedric and Cho walked to the entrance to the Great Hall, where Fleur Delacour and her new date, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain Roger Davies, stood.

"Hello, Roger," Cho said brightly. "How are you this evening?"

"Good," Roger nodded dreamily, eyes riveted completely on Fleur and her beautiful gray satin robes. "What about you?"

"I'm very well, thank you. Fleur? How about you?"

Fleur looked at Cho suspiciously as the Slytherins walked up from the dungeons. "I am good, zhank you vehry much." Her eyes turned to Cedric and she smiled brightly, almost sarcastically. "And Cedric, 'ow 'az your Christmas been?"

"It's been good, Fleur," Cedric said. "I take it you're looking forward to this evening?"

"Vehry much so," Fleur said, looking smugly at her still jaw-dropped date.

The oak front doors creaked open and the Durmstrang students walked in, led by Karkaroff and a girl in periwinkle robes Cedric felt looked vaguely familiar.

"Champions over here please!" Professor McGonagall called out just a few feet away from Cedric, Cho, Fleur, and Roger Davies. As Krum, his date, Harry Potter, and his date, Parvarti Patil walked towards them, Professor McGonagall greeted them.

"One side, the eight of you. You'll greet the students as they enter," Professor McGonagall commanded as she positioned them on either side of the doors, ready for the students to enter. She put Cedric and Cho nearest to the door on one side, opposite of Roger Davies and Fleur Delacour, and next to Krum and his date, who were across from Harry and Parvarti. Cedric looked over and after a few seconds recognized the girl in periwinkle blue as Hermione Granger.

Cedric looked to Harry, who seemed dumbfounded in disbelief. Cedric agreed with him. This wasn't the normal Hermione, the Hermione who was purportedly the smartest girl in school, who was smarter than most people in the grade above them.

Cho tapped him on the shoulder excitedly, pointing at Hermione. "Cedric, that's-"

"Shhhh!" Cedric hushed her putting her hands down. "I know, but don't point."

"Right, sorry!"

The rest of the students entered as soon as the Great Hall doors swung open. People stared at Hermione and waved at Cedric or shook his hands or called out to one of the Champions or their dates. It took a lot less time to clear the Entrance than Cedric had imagined it would take for almost two hundred people to squeeze through such a relatively small doorway.

Before he knew it, he was walking through the Great Hall in procession with the other Champions towards a table at the top of the hall, and before he knew it, he had reached the Judges table, where he sat between Cho and Fleur Delacour. After everyone had settled down, Dumbledore said "pork chops" to his plate, making a meal of pork chops appear on his plate.

_Just like Promise's parents' party._

When everyone had ordered, the Hall became abuzz with chatter. Cho began to talk very quickly, yet politely, between bites of lamb and sips of butterbeer.

"It is so very nice here. I mean I like it a lot."

"I like this table too," Cedric asked, content to listen to her talk.

"No," Cho giggled slightly. "Hogwarts. It's probably my favorite place on the entire planet. My friends are here, you're here, Quidditch is here."

"But not this year."

"But not this year," Cho nodded, taking a swig of her butterbeer. "This place is my home. Not to say I don't like home at home, but here is nice, beautiful. And they give me free food."

Cedric laughed, toasting his goblet. "I'll drink to that. So what classes are you taking right now?"

Cho sighed heavily. "Oh dear, what am I not taking? Well I dropped out of Divination because Professor Trelawny's a loon. I really enjoy Care of Magical Creatures when I'm not fleeing for my life. Potions sucks because I'm not a Slytherin. And people say that I'm really good at Charms and Transfiguration, but then I see someone like Hermione Granger and I say have you seen what other people can do?"

"Ready for your O.W.L.'s?"

Cho laughed hard, making Fleur stop talking for an instant to turn around and see what the commotion was all about. "Sorry!" Cho said, blushing. "It's just that Cedric asked me a really funny question." Cho didn't see it, but Fleur rolled her eyes and turned around as Cho began talking to Cedric. "No. I'm not. I don't think anyone's ever ready for O.W.L.'s. Were you ready for yours?"

"No," Cedric chuckled.

"Really? You always seem on top of these things."

"Well I am," Cedric explained, cutting a piece off his roast. "But it's really intimidating and it's so comprehensive you oftentimes have trouble figuring out what'll be on it. But the thing you have to remember is that because it is so comprehensive they don't really have an opportunity to test you in depth on much of anything."

"Ah, so you're saying don't worry about them."

"Yeah, they're just O.W.L.'s."

"This coming from the guy who got one in each subject."

Cedric rolled his eyes playfully. "Believe me, Cho. They're just O.W.L.'s."

"And what is that even supposed to mean?" Cho asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Cedric asked, more formal than usual because of the strange tone of Cho's voice.

"I mean O.W.L.," Cho said, more calm than before. "Why do they call 'em O.W.L.'s?"

"Because they're Ordinary Wizarding Levels?" Cedric guessed.

"Exactly," Cho said curiously. "Why are they calling them Ordinary Wizarding Levels? When someone walks up to you and says 'How many O.W.L.'s did you get?' doesn't that translate as 'How many Ordinary Wizarding Levels did you get?' when really you didn't get any levels? You took some tests. You took O.W.L. tests. An O.W.L. is just what you're expected to take. Then you take a test to see how well you understand to see if you're at the O.W.L. I think it's more of a location than a test. It should be an O.W.L. test to see if you're at the O.W.L., otherwise you're subpar and then you succeed in your O.W.L. and then you have a level, and that seems to make no sense at all. So why don't they call them O.W.L.T.'s? That'd make more sense. Then it can be how many O.W.L.'s have you achieved and which O.W.L.T.'s did you pass?"

Cedric was speechless. He actually had nothing to say. That speech would have given Promise a run for her money.

"That is a very good point, Miss Chang," Professor Dumbledore said from a few seats away. "And it's something I've been wondering about myself for quite some time, and now that I know this subject is not just me in my old age and senility I will bring it up too see if we could get the acronym at least change. I was thinking about changing it to Original Writing Letters myself."

Cedric and Cho laughed as Professor Dumbledore turned to a conversation between Professor Karkaroff, Hermione Granger, Viktor Krum, and Harry Potter.

And so they talked about very little, but a lot about very little. Cedric didn't really mind where the conversation went, just so long as it kept going. Cho happened to actually know a great deal in more than Cedric would have guessed. She had plenty of ideas on everything from how House Elves did need to learn how to stand up for themselves to what Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was doing at that exact moment.

"My guess?" Cho said, after she had drained the last few drops from her goblet. "He's probably out somewhere, talking excitedly with a rich "pure blood" family who are promising to give the Ministry a large grant of money in order, they wouldn't say this out loud, of course, to make the Minister forget they really supported You-Know-Who back in the day."

"You really think so?" Cedric asked.

"Oh I know so," Cho said knowingly. "My family once had the Minister over for dinner. He was very nice, but not too bright. He didn't seem to know exactly what he was talking about, and he was incredibly stubborn. My father tried to correct him on something even I know and the Minister wouldn't hear of it."

"Huh," Cedric said. "That's weird. You'd think we'd have a more intelligent minister."

"You'd think so," Cho said. "But Dumbledore didn't want to be involved in politics, so he's here and not there. And, pardon me for being selfish, but I'm glad he's here, thinking about all of his students, all the time."

Cedric nodded as Dumbledore called for the students to step away from the tables. Within seconds, the tables had flown to the walls and Dumbledore had conjured a stage on the right wall of the Great Hall. The Weird Sisters trooped onto the stage, picked up their instruments and began to play.

Smiling, Cedric walked forward to the center of the Hall, Cho on his arm. He placed one hand on Cho's waist and the other in her hand and they began to dance. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular and elegant and choreographed, just something in place, in a slowly revolving circle. After a few minutes everyone else joined. Cedric looked vaguely around for Sam and Promise, but when he realized that Cho had laid her head on his chest he decided it was perhaps not best for them to see each other for the time being.

After what felt like not nearly a long enough amount of time, the song ended and The Weird Sisters struck up a new tune, something faster. People dropped the pretense of formal dancing and began to dance as they saw fit, moving in rhythm to the beat with their partners.

Cedric lost track of time. Songs blended together. One second he'd be freestyle dancing, and the next he'd be slow dancing with Cho. He only sat out two dances with Cho, stopping for punch both times. He didn't get a chance to check the time, but it didn't really matter. He was enjoying himself, and Cho was a very interesting person… and a good dancer. Every time he was by himself, though, he looked desperately for Olivia or Sam or Promise, but never saw them, and before he could look harder for them, Cho had already pulled him back onto the dance floor.

By the time the dance was over and The Weird Sisters had played their last song, everyone applauded and began to leave, Cedric someway behind Harry Potter.

For some reason, his mind turned to the thought of Harry going with Cho and how different his life would have been if Cho had said yes. Cedric bit his lip as Harry began to trudge up the marble staircase.

"Murietta!" Cho squealed to a red-haired girl in the Entrance hall. "Hang on, Cedric, I just want to talk to Murietta real quick."

Cedric stood there for a second before coming to a decision about what to do with Harry. With a resolute "Wait here" to Cho, Cedric turned around to face where Harry was, halfway up the stairs.

"Hey- Harry!" Cedric called out, running up the stairs towards Harry, who, for some reason, looked incredibly bitter and cold about something or another. Was this about Cho?

"Yeah?" Harry asked, stopping his upward climb with his friend Ron.

Cedric reached them, but stood there awkwardly for a second. He didn't really want to say anything around Ron, especially not if Ron wasn't really on Harry's inner circle, although Cedric suspected he was. With a heavy shrug that came more from frustration than politeness, Ron walked away, up the stairs and out of sight.

"Listen…" Cedric lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that golden egg. Does yours wail when you open it?"

"Yeah," Harry said, looking like the last few hours had been an utter waste of time.

"Well…" Cedric wondered how best to phrase it. He didn't want to tell Harry the whole clue, or it'd defeat the purpose. Besides, he had a few months to work it out. "Take a bath, okay?"

"What?"

"Take a bath," Cedric nodded. This was more of a clue than Moody had given him. "and – er – take the egg with you, and er –" Cedric wondered how best to phrase what he was trying to convey. "Just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think…" he said pointedly. "Trust me."

Harry stared at him like he was mad. It wasn't good enough. Harry needed something more to go on.

"Tell you what," Cedric said, desperate for Harry to trust him. This must have been about Cho. "Use the prefects' bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh.' Gotta go… want to say good night."

With a smile, he turned and walked back down the stairs, meeting up with Cho.

"Ready?" he asked, as Murietta and her date walked away.

"Absolutely."

They walked in silence back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"So did you have a good time?" Cedric asked half-awkwardly.

"Of course," Cho smiled at him. "It was very memorable."

"That's good," Cedric said as they reached the painting of the school of fish.

They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes.

"So I'll see you around?" Cedric said.

"Yeah," Cho said. "Thanks for everything."

She took a step forward and kissed him on the cheek. Cedric smiled as she twiddled her fingers in farewell, muttered the password, and disappeared behind the suddenly intangible portrait.

With a heavy sigh, Cedric began the trek all the way back down to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"Tinsel toes," Cedric said, making the badger jump to one side and bow regally low.

As he stepped inside, someone in a chair stood up.

It was Promise.

She stood there, just like she had when she had opened the door at her parents' Christmas party, hair straightened and beautiful, light green dress robes just as sparkly and flashy as the previous year.

"Well?" She asked.

"It was nice," Cedric said simply.

"Uh huh," Promise eyed him. "I take it you enjoyed yourself."

"Second best night of my life, I'd think," Cedric said.

"What was the first?" Promise asked.

"What do you think it was?"

"Right," Promise smiled, blushing slightly. "Almost forgot about that."

"I've been thinking about it all day. That was awesome."

"I know it was," Promise said.

"I didn't see you out there," Cedric said.

"Oh," Promise blushed. "I didn't really want to be seen. And I was spending my night with Heady Boy Calvin Parker."

"Calvin Parker," Cedric said, nodding. "So is he really Pretty Boy-ish as most people would think?"

Promise laughed for a few seconds. "No. Not at all. You'd be surprised, Cedric. Turns out you can be incredibly talented and smart and funny without being a pretty boy. Remember Bill Weasley? Head Boy during our second year? He's like him. Down to earth. Calvin gets the best grades and if you met him on the street you wouldn't know it. He's so… normal. I usually Head Boys as someone like you or Percy Weasley. You remember Percy?"

"Oh do I remember Percy," Cedric rolled his eyes. "The guy was so… Percy."

"Well I think there's two kinds of Head Boys. There's the Bills and the Percys. Calvin's definitely a Bill. You… I dunno."

"I don't want to be a Percy," Cedric laughed.

"But you're not… Bill enough to be a Bill."

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric said.

"It's no problem," Promise waved him off. "So did you like the book?"

"Of course," Cedric said. "I just wonder how long it takes you to write one of those."

"It's actually not that long at all," Promise said, nodding. "The hard part's coming up with an idea to run with for so many pages. Wanna know the truth? I have about seven more ideas lined up for future Christmas presents. I just haven't written them yet."

"I can't wait to read them," Cedric said.

"So did you have a good time?" Promise asked.

"I told you I would," Cedric said.

"I knew you would, just thought I'd ask."

"How's Sam?"

"She's alright. Been better sure," Promise said dejectedly. "She misses you."

"I miss her," Cedric said softly.

"She was thinking about you all night. I was sitting at her table. She didn't say anything, but you could see it. She'd shoot glances at your table, jealous."

"I'm sorry."

"It's over and done now," Promise said, waving him off. "Now it's about picking up the pieces and moving on." Promise looked down. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Cedric said walking up to her. "Don't think I could forget about you."

Promise looked up at him. "The thought did cross my mind."

"Be quiet," Cedric laughed and pulled her into a hug. "So we good?"

"Forever and ever and ever and always and always and always," Promise said, muffled into his shoulder. "Wait!" She pushed away from him. "That's not too long, is it?"

Cedric clenched his teeth and looked at her, unimpressed. "You're kidding, right?"

"Good!" Promise said. "Don't ever go anywhere again."

"I didn't go anywhere! You walked away from me!"

"No! That's not how we're remembering it!"

Cedric laughed and hugged her again, squeezing her tight. Promise hugs.

"Merry Christmas, Promise."

"Merry Christmas, Ced."

* * *

A/N... Yeah... I'm just gonna say... This chapter flowed a little differently than I thought... But it's good for setting up the rest of the story... I think... Please R/R! Cuz... you can! I'll write you back and we can talk... I Promise!... I mean... I promise... Promise... Promise... Stopping now...


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer**: The Second Task, The Bubble-Head Charm, and all of the joy of this chapter that does not come from Promise and exists entirely in the universe J.K. Rowling lovingly bestowed on us... Yeah... dunno how to finish that sentence. I have no rights to it. I don't own it. I own Promise though, and all Cedric's little buddies who do not appear in GOF...

* * *

**Chapter 14  
Changes**

Cedric really didn't feel like waking up the day after Christmas. He was too exhausted, tired. It didn't really hit him until he had opened his eyes how much he enjoyed sleeping in. It wasn't a practice he wanted to make normal, but it was nice to do it every so often, when he had no cares in the world, or when he had really deserved it.

He yawned and stretched as he looked at his watch. _Noon._

He had slept in till noon. Almost twelve hours of sleep. It felt nice, nestled in blankets and well rested. Something about it was just so… perfect with everything else.

Maybe it was Promise.

That could be it. Promise's presence was a big help, especially after she had come to him just twelve hours earlier. He had thought he would have had to patch things up with her, when in actuality she had patched things up with him.

How he loved her. Everything about her, from her invective humor to her return in humility, hoping for his grace made him smile.

And she did look beautiful… So did Olivia.

_But what about Sam?_ He wondered. _Where had she been? Did she look good? What a stupid question, of course she looked good. She would have taken his breath away._

With a sigh and a feeling of apathy, he threw on the robes he had worn the day before. He hadn't done anything with them except to sit in the chair with Promise's book, and one day of recycled clothes certainly wouldn't hurt him.

Moving sluggishly, he headed out of the dorm and into the Common Room, where Olivia sat watching Marcus and Sam play a game of wizard's chess. He looked for Promise as he descended the staircase, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning all," Cedric said with a wide yawn, making Olivia and Marcus look up at him and laugh at his tiredness. Sam looked up too, but quickly refocused her attention on Marcus's bishop slaughtering her rook with a large cross.

"It's afternoon, Ced," Olivia said, smiling at him.

"I know what time it is," Cedric said, putting his palms to his eyes.

"Marcus?" Olivia said looking at him.

"What?" Marcus asked as he moved his knight safely out of the way of Sam's queen.

"I believe you have something to do," Olivia hinted.

"Oh, right," Marcus said as Sam moved one of her pawns forward so it was attacking Marcus's knight. He fished into a pocket of his robes and pulled out a silver sickle, which he slapped on the table in front of Sam. Without looking up, Sam extended her palm and slid it off the table into her lap.

Cedric looked at them as Marcus, faced with no options, moved his queen. "What just happened?"

Sam's pawn stabbed Marcus's horse, flinging the knight to the board and sending the horse skittering away. Her pawn then when on to pick up the knight by the seat of its pants and throw him off the board.

"We wanted to see who'd come down the stair first, you or Promise. Sam said it'd be you and Marcus wanted to make it interesting."

Cedric looked over at Marcus skeptically. "Never underestimate Promise. She has this ability to do exactly what you don't expect her to do, and you love her all the more for it. Never bet on Promise. She'll let you down."

"It's cuz she knows her limits," Olivia nodded.

"Check," Sam said softly as she slid her queen into an attacking position.

"So…" Cedric said as he sat down in a nearby armchair. "Sam, how are you?"

"Good," she said simply, just as quietly.

"You won't win," Marcus said competitively.

But Sam didn't appear to be listening to him, or Cedric for that matter. She seemed incredibly focused on the game and how she could keep her offense strong.

"How was your evening?" Cedric asked, eyes, like Sam's, fixated on the game.

"Magical," Marcus said, smiling as he moved his King behind a line of pawns, temporarily protecting him. "It was a late night as you probably know. How was Cho Chang? You two looked quite the couple at the entrance to the Great Hall."

"Did we?" Cedric said smiling slightly as Sam tried to get her queen into another attacking position, but quickly lost the piece to Marcus's bishop.

"Yeah, you really did," Marcus said enthusiastically. "Didn't they, Sam?"

Sam still had her mind focused entirely on the game and didn't answer.

"Sam?" Marcus said, slightly louder.

"Huh, what?" Sam asked, dropping her rook on a spot directly attacked by Marcus's queen.

"Didn't you think of Cedric and Cho as quite the couple last night?"

"Yes, quite," she said quickly, turning her head back to the game just in time to see Marcus's queen smash her rook into a hundred piece, sweep them up, and dump them into a pile on the table outside of the board.

"Check," Marcus said before turning back to Cedric. "I didn't see you last night after the first dance. Where were you?"

"Dance floor," Cedric said, a butterfly sending a particularly powerful gust through his stomach, making it flutter.

"Really?" Marcus said as Sam moved a bishop in front of her king, defending him from Marcus's queen, but Marcus sideswiped the bishop with his rook, capturing it. "I didn't see you there."

"Must have been on the other side of the dance floor," Cedric said politely.

"Must have," Marcus said, face screwed up in concentration.

"I thought it was a pleasant evening," Cedric said after a few more moves, Sam barely able to keep her pieces on the offensive, every move to escape Marcus's check or a move that would give him a check on her.

"Oh it was lovely," Marcus said as he moved his rook into the same row as her king. "One of the best nights of my life. Check."

"Isn't that cute?" Olivia said, obviously trying to get them off the subject of the Yule Ball. "You hear that Sam?"

"Mmmm," Sam said as she desperately sought for a move to get her King out of its predicament. With very few other options, she moved him up a row, just out of reach of Marcus's bishops.

Marcus thought for a few minutes about his next move. "I kid you not, it was amazing." He moved his queen over two spaces. "Checkmate."

With no other options, Sam turned her king to its side and put her head on the table.

"Sorry, dear," Marcus said sorrowfully. "But all's fair in love and war."

Cedric made accidental eye contact with Sam, but, unbeknownst to the other they turned away almost instantaneously.

"And sleeping," Promise said as she descended the staircase, still dressed in her dress robes.

"Morning Promise," Olivia said, far too bright and loud for a casual greeting.

"Morning," Promise said as she checked her watch. "How'd everyone sleep?"

"Cedric just got up," Marcus said. "He came down the stairs before you did. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome!" Promise said brightly, appreciatively. After a second, her smiled faded. "For what? What'd I do this time?"

"You came down the stairs after Cedric," Olivia said boringly. "And we told him you never bet on Cedric when we could bet on you."

"But he was a long shot!"

Promise smiled and sighed slightly. "Yeah. When you bet with infinity against you you'll get a huge payout. Just means you're casting Lockhart spells."

Marcus laughed. "But I still want a payout. Bet on you everytime?"

"Except in the Triwizard Tournament!" Promise said brightly. "Cedric'll win that one easy!"

"But I haven't even done the second task yet!" Cedric exclaimed.

"Speaking of, did you figure out that clue?" Promise asked curiously.

"You didn't tell her?" Cedric asked Olivia.

"Are you kidding? I thought you'd want to ask her.

Cedric sighed heavily. "Alright, fair enough. So apparently the mermaids are going to take something from me and I have to survive underwater for an hour-"

"Bubble-Head Charm," Promise nodded and turned to look around at the empty Common Room, where she found a copy of the _Daily Prophet, _picked it up,and began to read page one.

"Excuse me?" Cedric asked, taken aback.

"Bubble-Head Charm," Promise said casually.

"You're making that up," Olivia said, smiling in doubt.

"I am not!" Promise said indignantly, whipping around to face them.

"You don't give us much reason to believe you," Marcus smirked weakly. "You did respond to the Task rather quickly.

"I know my spells!" Promise said, insulted. "You don't like how I can know them more than Future Head Boy over here?"

"It's not that," Marcus said defensively. "It's just-"

"You think I just make up spells in my spare time? And then when someone asks me for one I just say easy porcelain barn charm! It turns an object into a same-size replica of a porcelain store? You think that's how I work."

"Well…"

"Oh, so you do?" Promise asked sarcastically.

"No! I mean," Marcus fumbled for the words. "I mean you sometimes have this… joking thing about you."

"Oh! So I can't be taken seriously!" Promise said, feigning a fake sort of comprehension. "Is that it?"

"No! I take you seriously!"

"But not when I tell Cedric about the second task?"

"It's the second task! And he has ages! It wouldn't hurt for you to steer him wrong. I mean, you probably do know the spell for the end!"

"But I told you the spell! It's the Bubble-Head Charm! Did you not hear me?"

"No, I-"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Promise said, clasping a hand to her fast beating heart. "You're deaf now! I can breathe. And all this time I thought I was speaking to someone who could hear!"

"I'm kidding!" Marcus said, panicking slightly.

"What?" Promise said loudly, in such a way she was indicating for him to speak up.

"I said I was… just…" Marcus's voice trailed off as he looked around the table to Olivia and Cedric, both of whom were biting their lips to stop themselves from laughing. With a closed-eyed sigh and a smile of acknowledgement of his own foolishness, Marcus laughed. "Ha. Ha."

Promise laughed as Olivia and Cedric chuckled at Marcus's folly. "Oh dear, I was wondering how long I was going to have to string you along. I think that was a record."

"Yeah, it was," Cedric said, getting out his last few chuckles. "So Bubble-Head Charm?"

"Bubble-Head Charm," Promise said affirmatively. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, please," Olivia said excitedly.

Promise smirked and pulled out her wand, pointing it at her head. "_Airocapus_."

Instantly, a huge bubble or air emerged from her wand, expanding until it had enveloped her head and Promise jerked the wand away, the bubble staying on her head, bobbing, elongating and shrinking various features of her face, creating a sort of caricature of her as it moved.

Cedric and Olivia clapped appreciatively, and so did Marcus a few seconds later, but Sam kept her head on the table, neutral to the world around her.

"Tah dah!" Promise said, voice completely muffled by the bubble over her head, making it sound like she was plugging her nose with two fingers.

"It makes you look funny, Promise," Cedric said, trying not to laugh.

"It's to keep you from breathing the air out there, not to make me look or sound good. Besides, if that's the case, it just puts me on an even playing field with you."

"Ha, ha," Olivia said sarcastically.

"It's not really designed for underwater survival, though," Promise said, voice still sounding nasally. "The point is to stop you from breathing air out there. Like if I did this…" She flicked her wand and a large sack of Dundling Deedlemeyer's All Purpose Dragon Manure appeared in the middle of the common room. "I can't smell that."

The smell was completely unexpected. Cedric had at times helped his mother with yard work over the summer, and they had used fertilizer, but it was usually made of dung beetles, not dragon dung, not from something so potent. Cedric put his hand over his mouth and tried not to gag, holding his breath.

Promise inhaled deeply, appreciatively and then sighed just as satisfied. "I love the smell of dragon dung in the morning. Now who's the funny looking one?"

"You are," Marcus gagged, holding his throat as though he had a particularly vicious tasting Bertie Bott Every Flavored Bean caught in his throat.

"No, no, dear," Promise said, walking over to him and patting him on the back fairly hard, enough to dislodge a bean if one was really stuck in his throat. "The beans come later. This is dragon dung, you're supposed to drink in the fumes deeply."

"No… More…" Olivia said, on the verge of passing out.

"But it was just stating to get fun," Promise pouted.

"Promise-" Cedric choked.

Promise rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll take it off." She waved her wand and the bubble disappeared from her head. "Whooo! That is rank! Why didn't you say something?"

"Dying- Here-" Sam gasped.

"Oh, right," Promise coughed as though sick. She waved her wand and the sack of manure and the violent smell of unpurified dragon dung disappeared. "See why you don't make fun of someone with the Bubble-Head Charm?"

"Promise," Cedric said, almost retching at the thought of what he had just smelled, chills down his spine preventing the reflex. "You do know that to use one of those spells you have to have stored the object sometime in the past?"

"What's your point?"

"So… why do you have a sack of manure stored and usable at any time?"

"It's a good combination. If you have a Bubble-Head Charm and face off against something with a nose, they're screwed. Voldemort couldn't take me if he tried. I'd be able to run away before he could fire off a spell."

Olivia, Cedric, and Marcus all cringed at the sound of the name; Sam gave no noticeable response. She seemed far away, lost in her thoughts.

"You? Run away from You-Know-Who?" Olivia asked. "Wouldn't you try to take him out?"

"Ha!" Promise threw back her head and laughed once. "What do you take me for? I'm not suicidal! I have to much to live for to go after Voldemort. Nah. I need a few more years. When he comes back though… If I'm ready. Put me with a few fellow Aurors and I'll take him out! Until then I'll make with the smelly and run away."

"Sounds… effective," Sam said somewhat awkwardly.

Cedric looked at her, confused, wondering why she was so… awkward. Not that things with him and Sam had been peachy keen since Cho had asked him to the ball, but he didn't expect… Well maybe he did. Truth was, he didn't know what to expect.

"It is," Promise nodded affirmatively. "Manages to keep people away from my room at home during the school year, and cleanup's no problem." She frowned. "Come to think of it, I have no idea why I do that exactly. It's not like my parents are going to go into my room."

"Maybe they do, though…" Olivia's voice trailed off. "You have no idea what your parents do when you're not at home." She thought about it for a minute along with everyone else. "Come to think of it, what do they do when we're not there."

"Stop," Promise demanded, half-wincing, eyebrows raised. "There's a few things I'm never ever going to think about, I Promise-d myself that," she laughed at the obvious pun. "And that very thing is one of them."

"I'm just saying-"

"Sack. Of. Manure," Promise threatened.

"Shutting up," Olivia said, not wanting to push the subject over the age.

Promise sighed. "So… who's up for lunch?"

"I could go for some," Marcus said, clutching his stomach. "Sam?"

"I'm not really that hungry," she said weakly.

"Oh, come on! You can keep me company."

"No, that's really okay. Just go on ahead, I'll catch up later."

"I'll go," Olivia said. "I'm not too-too hungry. Unlike some people, I like to eat breakfast, even if I was up till some God-awful hour dancing."

"Cedric?" Promise said, saying one thing with her voice, but something completely different with her eyes. "Would you care to join us."

"Nah, I ate a lot last night. Besides, I was thinking of nicking from the kitchens later. They're bound to have leftovers from last night."

"You know, Ced," Olivia said, nodding and taking a step towards him and away from Promise and Marcus. "That actually sounds like a good- Ow!"

"We'll do it later and save room after lunch," Promise said pointedly, giving Olivia a knowing look. "I look forward to lunch right now. Don't you, Marcus?"

"Yeah," he said, stomach giving a very well-placed growl. "Sounds good."

"Ah," Olivia said, understanding what Promise was doing. "I see what's up. Yeah. Let's go to lunch. We'll hit the kitchens up later."

"But what about-" Marcus started.

"Lunch? It'll be fine," Promise said, wrapping an arm around Marcus's shoulder and steering him towards the statue wall. "You know, it's the meal between breakfast and dinner, so it's more like a heavy snack because all the good stuff comes on the ends, kinda like the middle child. No one really cares about the middle child, isn't that right, Olivia?"

"That's right- Hey! Don't be mean! "

"It's not my fault you're a middle child."

"I'm a middle child," Marcus said as they reached the statue wall.

"That explains a lot," Promise muttered loud enough for Cedric to hear.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you take it to mean," Promise smiled as they disappeared behind the sliding wall and towards lunch.

Cedric took a deep breath and looked at Sam. "So… How was your night?"

"Decent," Sam said honestly, yet awkwardly. "Yours?"

"Memorable," Cedric nodded. "I mean, it's not what I'd have done if I could have done anything."

"Mmmm," Sam said whistfully. "I know what you mean."

"So… I take it you didn't have a great time?"

"Not really, no," Sam said reflectively, contemplatively.

"So… not magical?" Cedric said, goading.

"Magical would be an overstatement," Sam said, nodding.

"Really?"

"A big overstatement."

Cedric's face dropped. "I'm sorry, what was so bad about it?"

"Well the dancing was fun, and the food was good. The people were just…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Sam looked to one side uncomfortably, rubbing her neck, looking at the ashes of the fire. "Olivia had Clamp, and Promise had Calvin Parker…" Sam's voice trailed off dreamily. "Did you see them?"

"No, I didn't get a chance to."

"Oh, you would've loved it said," Sam said, still dreamy. "They were so cute. I never thought I'd see that sort of side to Promise."

"What happened?"

"Oh they were talking and holding hands and dancing… It was so… romantic! Made me kind of jealous."

"Jealous?" Cedric asked, confused. "Why jealous? What about Marcus?"

"Well, that's the thing," Sam said, slipping back into the awkward inflections as opposed to the dreamy. "I thought things were good with him, but I realized last night just how much things aren't what I want in a relationship. I want… romance, not just nonsensical kissing."

"Nonsensical?"

"Alright," Sam confessed. "So it's not nonsensical. I mean, there's a bit of a spark there, but I think that's all it is. Everything about my relationship with him is physical and there's not that romance. I want romance and flowers. He doesn't know what my favorite flower is."

"That's a shame," Cedric frowned. "You deserve romance. You deserve flowers. Everyone should get what they want relationship-wise."

Sam smiled and looked at Cedric, making him melt slightly. "Thanks, Ced."

Cedric stayed silent for another minute before the next pertinent question bubbled to the surface. "What is your favorite type of flower?" Cedric asked curiously.

Sam smiled, blushing. "Pink tulips, if you must know." She said.

"I'll remember that," Cedric nodded. "And tell your future boyfriends."

Sam smiled as a noticeable shot went up her spine. "Thanks, Ced."

"Sure," Cedric said with a warm smile. So… we're good?"

Sam looked at him overly suspiciously, as thought hiding something. "Sure… why wouldn't they be?"

"Oh it's…" Cedric could feel the words on the tip of his tongue. "It's just that…" The words pressed against his lips, wanting to be forced out: _you've been gone and I miss you_. _I was going to ask you! Really I was. But I didn't… and now…_ "I don't know."

"Good," Sam said, smiling slightly. "So…" She looked around for something to do. "You wanna play a game? I'm not very good."

"I'm sure you're great."

"I'm better at Parchment Wars."

"So am I."

"I miss those."

"Me too. We'll have a huge melee someday."

"I look forward to it."

"So," Cedric walked to the game and flicked his wand, fixing the broken pieces and moving them all back into position. "You wanna start?"

And they played, Cedric making sure to give her a real fight until the end, when he conveniently made a few game-changing novice moves that let her win in the end. But he didn't care. He was just so happy they were talking again nothing else really mattered.

* * *

The following weeks passed by quickly for Cedric. Everyday he'd practice the Bubble-Head Charm under Promise's supervision and test its strength by Promise dumping a sack of dragon manure in the empty classroom they had chosen for practicing. Within a matter of weeks, several into the term, Cedric had completely mastered the technique.

Not to say he didn't practice. To the contrary, he practiced every opportunity he could. Every so often Olivia would sit in, but she was usually so bogged down with O.W.L. homework she rarely got the opportunity. Sam visited him even less frequently, but more frequently than he had expected. Her time with Marcus had declined sharply since the Yule Ball, and Sam remained tight lipped when he pointed this out to her. She always responded with a vague, "Really? Huh. That's strange," before continuing on with whatever it was she was doing, even if there was very little to do with what she was doing. When Cedric asked Olivia and Promise about this, they responded similar to Cedric. They had noticed a change in Sam's behavior, but Sam had never come forward about the issue and had never given much more of an answer to either of them than she had given to Cedric.

Cedric felt he could've gotten more of an answer out of Sam if only it hadn't been for the one unpredictable thing that come out of the Yule Ball:

Cho Chang.

Feeling they somehow "clicked" on Christmas, Cho kept lurking around Cedric, much to his chagrin, especially when Harry Potter would walk past trying in vain to hide his feelings of scandalization beneath a bored exterior. Not wanting to brush her aside and hurt her feelings, Cedric decided to do nothing about her.

Thankfully, Promise decided that Cedric had suffered from her absence of company for long enough and decided to allow him to continue with his charade, so long as nothing became of it. Cedric kept his word, keeping it only to handholding in the hallways and the occasional classroom hangout during break.

Sam seemed still slightly put out from Cho still hanging around Cedric, but didn't really make too much of a big deal of it. Cedric and her stayed on relatively good terms, with the occasional conversation (not as much as they had when Promise wasn't speaking to Cedric before the first task, but more than when she had been snogging with Marcus when Cho had asked Cedric) that wasn't as entirely as awkward as Cedric would have expected. For the most part, in fact, they were civilized and overly formal, the awkward masked by an overtone of discomfort at the thought of Cho with Cedric.

Flying rumor around the school was that Cedric and Cho were going steady, and Cedric didn't bother to put this rumor down. Cho would've cracked under the strain, and she was enjoying her shadow-of-celebrity status. The attention flying her way made her smile each time someone threw a compliment at her.

"How do you put up with her?" Promise sighed heavily as she flopped into an arm chair near the fire one morning after breakfast during a free period.

"I get to know her. That's how."

"Yule Ball?" Promise asked, pointing her wand to her head, mocking suicidal.

"Yes," Cedric pulled his wand out of his pocket. "Because of what we talked about at the Yule Ball."

"Sam's better," Promise muttered as she waved her wand. "_Airocapus_."

A bubble engulfed her head and stayed stationary as Cedric prepared to cast his Bubble-Head Charm. "You think I don't know that?"

"Haven't we already covered this?"

Cedric nodded, slightly upset. "_Airocapus_."

_Wrong_, Cedric thought. _Not enough… thickness._

Promise waved her wand and dumped her signature sack of dragon manure in front of Cedric. The goal was to get him to breathe normally without choking or making serious dying movements.

Cedric could feel the stench begin to permeate the sides, but slower than most of the other times. This time it was bearable and it was definitely an improvement, but still it wouldn't keep out the smell for long.

"Yes," Promise said, absentmindedly flicking her wand and bringing up a sack of dung. "But it's still important that we continue talking about her. She is rather important right now, don't you think?"

The smell intensified and began to really permeate the bubble. "Promise…" Cedric gagged. "I need air."

"What you need is to figure out what you want, Ced," Promise said as she willed another sack into the room. "Do you really want to keep encouraging her?"

"It's not that easy," Cedric choked, smell increasing exponentially by the second.

"Sure it is! All you have to do is say, 'can we talk?' and then you tell her what's going on," Promise flicked her wand and another bag popped into the room.

"But I don't know what's going on!" Cedric exclaimed, barely audible through his suffocation.

"Sure you do! She likes you. You don't like her. You're in love with Sam. Cho's holding your hand and treating you like you're her boyfriend/ snog buddy. You are lying to her."

"The word's passive aggressive!" Cedric said, trying to hold his breath, but unable to.

Promise rolled her eyes. "I'll make you regret this!" She said as she magicked the sacks away with a wave of her wand and vanished the smell instantly.

With a breath of fresh air, Cedric popped the bubble around his head. "How?"

"Oh, I don't know… I'll figure something out," Promise said vaguely.

"Why is it I don't trust you?" Cedric said, concerned about what Promise was thinking. Her plans and thinking were never good things.

Promise smiled. "Because I'm so fiery and unpredictable?"

* * *

The weeks leading up to the second task proceeded like the weeks before. Sam stayed tight lipped about why she wasn't hanging out with Marcus. Olivia helped Cedric when she wasn't working on homework or with Sam. Promise kept outdoing him on the Bubble-Head Charm, but Cedric made progress, slowly to be sure. He wondered constantly about how she had managed to get so incredibly good with the Bubble-Head Charm, especially when he had never seen her practice it.

By the night before the Second Task Cedric could successfully protect himself against up to four bags of Promise's manure, which Promise assured him was more than enough to survive underwater for at least an hour.

"Promise?" Marcus asked, entering the Common Room with Sam.

"What?" Promise said uninterestedly.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you," Sam said, looking sadly at Marcus.

"Really? Promise asked, excitedly. "Is this about the first year problem I wanted to talk to him about?"

"What first year problem?" Olivia asked, concerned, putting down her Potions book.

"I once proposed to Professor Dumbledore that we should fit all the first years with a large cauldron around their necks. You know, to keep them from being actively annoying. They'd have to think about their moves."

"You're so disgusting, Promise," Cedric groaned.

"They're the disgusting ones!" Promise half-exclaimed as she rose to leave. "I'm just working for the betterment of wizardkind everywhere!"

Cedric shook his head as she left. "They're really not that bad, first years."

"No, they're not," Olivia said. "Yes they can be really annoying at times, but for the most part they just keep to themselves."

"I think that's the problem," Cedric said before turning to Sam and Marcus. "Did Professor Dumbledore say what he wanted?"

Marcus shook his head. "No, he just said to bring Promise to him."

"I guess we'll find out what this is all about soon enough, now won't we?" Cedric said with a weak smile as he returned to practicing his Bubble-Head Charm.

They sat in silence, Sam, Olivia, and Marcus all studying and working while Cedric practiced. After a few minutes, Promise returned with a big, wide smile on her face.

"What's that for?" Cedric asked, slightly afraid.

"You'll find out tomorrow," Promise said, still not unsmiling.

Something in Cedric's stomach lurched. Why did he suddenly feel incredibly frightened about the Second Task?

* * *

Cedric awoke early for the Second Task. He moved slowly, purposefully, not eating a lot at breakfast, and not taking a bath. Neither of those would do him any good in the lake.

Strangely, it seemed, Cho wasn't at breakfast, something that made Sam and Olivia very worried and Promise incredibly smug. _What was she planning?_

When nine thirty rolled around, Cedric led the trek of Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins down to the edge of the lake where stands had been erected. Sam, Olivia, and Promise all bid Cedric goodbye and headed to get good seats. Cedric continued to the water's edge where Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum stood expectantly, ready, wands in hand.

"Morning!" Cedric said cheerily.

Krum nodded a hello and Fleur flipped her hair seductively.

"'Ello Cedric," she smiled. "'ow are you today?"

"Pretty good. What about you, Krum? You excited to do this?"

Krum grunted a response.

"Me too!" Cedric said, half-excitedly. He felt so prepared! This was an easy task, and he was completely ready to do it, too.

"So what do you think zey 'ave taken, Cedric?"

"Anyone's guess," Cedric said. "I checked my suitcase this morning and they didn't take my broom. Did they take yours Krum?"

Krum smiled and shook his head.

"Well that's good," Cedric laughed. "And Fleur they didn't take anything of yours, did they?"

"Not zhat I know of…" he voice trailed off.

"We can talk about this now, you know," Cedric said, throwing caution to the winds. "We all know what we're doing here and how we're going to get through it."

Krum nodded politely, looking surly. It was the same sort of look he had at the First Task, but he looked more defined, better prepared than before. Maybe he was doing something different than Cedric? Of course he was. He would do something different. There were probably a hundred different ways of performing this task, just like with the First Task. This one, however, seemed to have a severely decreased amount of options. There were only so many ways to survive underwater.

They waited for nine thirty to roll around. With ten minutes until the start of the task, Harry Potter was nowhere to be found, and Fleur began to complain.

"Of course 'e is late! 'ow did I expect any different?'

"Now, now," Cedric tried to comfort her. "He's probably just slept in or something."

After six more minutes of waiting, someone burst out of the castle doors and sprinted past the stragglers who were late to get to the task, around the lake and to the edge of the water where the Champions and Judges were waiting. Within a minute, Harry Potter had reached the edge of the lake and had skidded to a halt next to Fleur, something dripping in his tightly clenched fist.

"I'm… here…" he panted.

Something told Cedric he had just woken up.

"Where have you been?" Percy Weasley asked snobbily, like a put-out mother. "The tasks' about to start!"

"Now, now, Percy," said a very relieved Bagman. "Let him catch his breath."

Bagman took his time lining up the Champions ten feet apart from one another. He took a little extra time placing Harry, seeming to be whispering something to him. Harry shook him off and Bagman pointed his wand at his throat.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One… two… three!"

The stands erupted in cheers and applause as the whistle sounded. Cedric kicked off his shoes and socks and pointed his wand at his head as he began to wade into the lake.

"_Airocapus_!" He said somewhat loudly, adrenaline pumping in his veins.

A bubble of air erupted from Cedric's wand, thick and protective. It engulfed his head, encasing him in a wonderful capsule of oxygen and life. When he had gone deep enough, Cedric pocketed his wand and dove into the water.

The lake was dark and cold and it took a long time to get used to the water. His vision became more clear as he grew more and more accustomed to the water, the bubble over his head keeping his vision focused and sure. The more he swam, the more his body became accustomed to the frigid cold, but it didn't matter. The prospect of the mystery of what was there, at the bottom of the lake, with the Merpeople was exciting, although he did find it strange that no one had told him what was going on with their captive. What had they taken. He thought they'd take Sam or Promise, maybe even Olivia, but no, they hadn't taken any of them.

He descended through the dark, and passed by a quickly swimming away school of Grindylows, wondering exactly what had caused them to become so frightened. Grindylows didn't usually act that way.

After a long time, what felt like days, of swimming, he began to hear the sound of singing, someone singing. It seemed familiar.

"_Your time's near gone, so quickly play,  
__or may it be you will pay."_

Cedric hastened his swim and after a few more minutes, when the song had gown louder and more resounding came to a deserted underwater village of Merpeople. The Merpeople, it turned out, were all congregated around a statue in the middle of what appeared to be a town square.

Harry Potter was in the middle of the circle, his friend Ron Weasley floating above him, not up, just stationary, and three people were tied to the statue in the center of town: Hermione Granger, a silver haired girl who reminded Cedric of Fleur, and Cho Chang.

Cedric already knew what had happened with Promise the night before. As he approached Harry and the Merpeople turned to face him. Harry looked funny, his body had become slightly more fish-like, hand and feet somehow molded together and his neck had small slits for gills.

"Got lost!" Cedric mouthed to him. "Fleur and Krum should be here soon!"

He pulled out a knife from his pocket, and, knowing exactly which hostage was his, cut Cho free from the weed that was mooring her to the statue. She floated upwards and he pocketed his knife. He grabbed her by the waist and, holding her upright, swam up out of the blackness, towards the surface, heading straight up with no regard for anything the might have gotten in his way. After what felt like another few days, Cedric could see the light of the surface glint at him, and he kicked harder, ready to pass out from the strain of swimming for so long. With a few final kicks, he broke the surface of the water to tumultuous applause. Instantly, Cho awoke, eyes flapping as she tried to reorient herself. When she saw Cedric holding her, she laughed, pleased.

"Cedric!" She cried, as he used his wand to pop the bubble over his head.

"Cho," Cedric said, somewhat disappointed in Promise. In her defense, she had said she would get him back. he just didn't think she'd use a Triwizard task to do it.

He swam back to the shore and stepped out, crowd still cheering and clapping his return. Madame Pomfrey ran forward and draped two large fluffy towels over both of them. Cedric looked to the judges' table, where Fleur was sitting, looking very upset and distraught.

"Did you see her?" Fleur asked, panicking as she ran over to Cedric.

"Who? See who?"

"My sister! Gabrielle!"

"Yes, I did," Cedric said, somewhat concerned.

"Was she alright? Did she look okay?"

"She looked… fine," Cedric nodded. "All the hostages were in an enchanted sleep."

"You're telling me," Cho said, wanting to jump into the conversation. "I don't remember anything after last night. I went into Dumbledore's office, he said he was casting a spell, and the next thing I know I'm in Cedric's arms in the lake, soaking wet, not knowing what's going on."

"Wonderful," Fleur said patronizingly as the crowd burst into thunderous applause.

Cedric, Fleur, and Cho turned around in time to see a large shark-headed creature, Hermione Granger in hand, burst out of the water. With a flick of the wand of his free hand, the shark transfigured its head back into the head of Victor Krum.

They headed to the shore, Fleur looking more and more distraught as the time passed. Hurriedly, she asked Krum about what he had seen, but he hadn't taken her sister either.

Harry didn't appear at the surface for another fifteen minutes, breathing hard, with two hostages in his arms: Ron and Fleur's sister.

The crowd was screaming in applause and cheers, but Cedric didn't understand why. Thank goodness he had saved Gabrielle, though. Someone had to. Why'd he have to be in such a rush to get up to the surface?

Madame Pomfrey came over to fuss about Cedric, Cho, Krum, and Hermione, making sure they were all tightly wrapped in warmth. Gabrielle had tried to sprint to the water's edge, but Madame Maxime was holding her tightly, keeping her from struggling as best she could. Percy Weasley splashed into the water to make sure his brother was alright.

Seeing that Harry was out of the water, Madame Pomfrey made to attend to him. Cedric took the opportunity to look at Cho, who just blushed. _Thanks Promise._

After a few minutes, in which Professor Dumbledore conversed with one of the Merpeople, who had popped her head out of the water to speak, the judges conversed amongst themselves. Fleur used the opportunity to profusely thank Ron and Harry for saving her sister.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed, spectators, champions, and their hostages jumping in fright. "We have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows…

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour," the crowd burst into applause and Cho shot him a look of both impressed-ness and disappointment. Great, just what he needed, criticism and praise from Cho, all at the same time. Why oh why did he have to kick off his shoes? "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

One minute? Seriously? One minute? Why hadn't he kicked slightly harder?

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and as second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Cedric broke open the folds of the blanket and clapped politely.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostage, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges," Bagman glared at Professor Karkaroff. "Feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However… Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

Cedric stomach dropped. He was tied with Harry for the lead.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June. The champios will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

Cedric should have stayed underneath with Harry. He should've helped out.

"Good job, Cedric!" Olivia shouted, giving him a big hug as she met up with him among all the other congratulatory hugs he got from people who poured out of the stands.

"Meh," Promise said as she strolled up behind him.

"What's that about?" Cho asked, holding Cedric's hand.

"It's meh," Promise said. "This whole task was meh. The clue was subpar and easy to figure out, the solution to do the task was wicked easy, and then the rest spectator people are stuck in the stands, watching water move while Cedric doesn't even make it in the time limit. This whole task was a complete waste of time. I got up for this?"

"Thanks for the encouragement, Promise," Cedric said sarcastically.

"Don't mention it," Promise smiled. "And you're welcome for your hostage, too."

"I noticed," Cedric said, bored again.

"What?" Cho asked, confused.

"Yeah," Olivia said to Promise. "I noticed that too, why is Cho Cedric's hostage?"

"Because I didn't want to be put underwater for a day and a half."

"That's how long I was underwater?" Cho asked, shocked.

"No, you were under for about a month."

Cho looked at Promise, confused.

"Hello, Cedric!" Sam said somewhat brightly as she approached him.

"Morning, Sam. You're awful perky."

"It was a good task," Sam said, vaguely, as though covering whatever it was that made her so cheerful with a feeble excuse.

"You'd think it was good. Now anyways," Promise said, somewhere between impressed and disappointed.

"Why?" Olivia asked, confused. She thought for a minute. "Oh!"

"What is it?" Cedric asked.

"You'll find out sometime," Olivia said vaguely.

But as they walked to the castle, Cedric still wet and Cho's hand still in his, he couldn't help but feel something was different.

Maybe it had something to do with Marcus not walking with them back to the castle.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer**: I own none of the non-original characters in this story. That's right, none... Of the NON original character. Me? I do in fact own my original characters... Any relation to real events (specifically between Cedric and Sam... which... might happen by the end of the chapter) is COMPLETELY intentional...

**Author's Note**: Sorry about the length. This thing just kinda went and became it's own beastly creation about four pages in, and then it went on to grow to six times that length. I know it's long, but bear with it... There's a LOT of things going on in it and personally, it's my favorite chapter to date.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 15  
Notes**

The Hufflepuffs weren't quite as fired up after the second task as they were after the first. Like Promise, most had found sitting out on the edge of the lake for an hour almost a complete waste of time. Were it not for the fact that Cedric was the first one to return from the bottom, Cedric would have expected the Hufflepuffs to be disheartened about the Triwizard Tournament. The dragons had, like Promise had said, established a level of intrigue and excitement. All the students expected something on the same level as that first task and, in their opinions, the second task had ultimately failed in that respect, and thusly the partying (because the partying was an inevitability) continued into the late evening.

To add a little more insult to injury, none of the hostages at the bottom of the lake were Hufflepuffs. Cedric's hostage had been Cho Chang and while everyone (including Promise, ironically) had been glad it was someone Cedric cared about, they were disappointed their Champion's hostage didn't come from their own house. At the party after the Second Task people walked up to Promise every few seconds, asking her why she wasn't the one strapped to the statue at the bottom of the lake.

"Because," she called out loudly just as Fourth Year Susan Bones asked her. "Cedric likes Cho and true love is a good incentive for everything! Now stop asking me!"

"Promise," Olivia said, yawning. "People aren't asking you to annoy you, they're asking you because it's awful strange that you wouldn't be at the bottom of the lake. I mean… let's be honest. Cho Chang? Yeah, Cedric cares about her, but he cares about every other person in this room more than he cares about her."

"Not everybody," Cedric said, giving a somewhat sad look at Marcus who sat in a corner, looking depressed, bottle of Butterbeer in his hand. "I care about Cho Chang about as much as I care about some people in this house. But Olivia has a point, Promise. They're just being curious. They want to know what happened at the bottom of the lake."

"Yeah, but they're being worse than First Years!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Standing right here." Susan Bones said, insulted.

"Excuse me for being honest," Promise said, frowning at her. "Here, I'll make it up to you and put it in the words of the great wizard Virgil. _Vincit omnia amor_: Love conquers all. And I wanted Cedric to conquer, because true love would've make it in the time limit." She looked over at Sam who was talking with a few other fifth year Hufflepuff girls, on the other side of the Common Room from Marcus. "Wouldn't it have, Cedric?"

"I suppose," Cedric said looking down.

"I don't get it," Susan Bones said confusedly.

Promise sighed. "I'm confusing, I know. But that's okay because I make sense to he who matters most in the world. Isn't that right, Cedric?"

"Yeah," Cedric said half-heartedly, still hopelessly looking at Sam. "Right."

"Okay," Susan Bones said, confused. "I'll just leave you two to be."

"Which is just as it should be," Promise said. "And if I scared you off because you think I'm mean to you, I'm really not. I just hate repeating myself, and to not first years no less! It's just damn annoying and you just happened to be the last straw."

"It's perfectly fine," Susan Bones waved her off. "You're Promise Ledger, if you didn't have that snapping quality you'd be… not Promise, as you would say."

She walked off, leaving Olivia, Cedric, and Promise to stare after her as she left.

"You know," Promise nodded, impressed. "I really like her. Why aren't we hanging out with her again?"

"Because three's a magic number," Olivia said tiredly. "And our four is pushing it. If we had her join our little cadre of people we'd be five, and that's right out."

"If three's so magic," Promise said. "Why don't we have three?"

"Because we have four," Cedric shrugged.

"Hello," Sam said brightly, brighter than she had ever since the Yule Ball as she came over to join them. "Olivia, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

"Sure," Olivia said, turning to face Sam.

"In private?" Sam asked, shooting an embarrassed look at Cedric, which he just managed to glean for a quick second before she looked away.

They walked off to a private corner of the Common Room, away from Marcus.

"Then who would we lose," Promise asked ponderingly, turning back to her previous conversation with Cedric as though Sam hadn't just walked off and asked Olivia to go talk about something suspicious. "Wait, that was mean, let me rephrase that. Who would we get rid of?" She made a big, head swirling motion at Cedric, looking at him.

Cedric sighed. "You're so mean."

"Mean," Promise groaned as Olivia let loose a slight shriek that made everyone in the room jump slightly. Cedric looked over at her, concerned and curious, but Olivia had taken to speaking almost completely inaudibly and Promise kept riveted to the spot thinking only of her conversation with Cedric. "I prefer to think of the word as… honest… in a really brutal sort of way."

"I'll never get sick of you," Cedric sighed, chuckling slightly.

"Well I'm sick of you," Promise said, somewhat louder than usual. "Didn't you get that? Go away."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll…" Promise fumbled for the threat. "Curse you."

"Uh huh."

"I will! I do these things!"

"Uh huh," Cedric said, just as doubtingly.

"That's it, you asked for it!" Her threatening tone dropped almost instantly as she put her hands to her sides, not fishing into her pockets, exhaling heavily.

"Well?" Cedric asked her tauntingly after a few minutes.

"Nope. I got nothing," Promise said uninterestedly. "I was gonna do something but I'm too tired. Sitting in those stands for that hour and a minute sucked. If it was just an hour and it you were lifting…" Promise nodded to Sam, who was still talking to Olivia. "her outta that lake, I woulda maybe done something if you'd insulted me, but your failure, and when I say that, I mean it in the nicest way possible, but your failure has really just sapped the energy from me."

"I'm in first place!"

"You're _tied _for first place," Promise corrected him. "Tied with Harry Potter no less, who, by doing the more noble and heroic thing, might have a claim to the throne."

"Throne? What throne?"

"Throne of being a Pretty Boy. How many times do I have to tell you? You're the secretary, treasurer, page, jester, chief of staff, Vice President, President, Emperor, Prime Minister, dictator for life, tyrant, janitor, and suck-up of the Pretty Boy club… all rolled into one. Although with Harry Potter doing his act of nobility like he did, he might be throwing in his hat as the new minority leader. Watch yourself, you could lose that position super fast. Why didn't you stay at the bottom of the lake anyways?"

"I didn't think about it-"

"Neither did Harry," Promise murmured under her breath. "And look where it got him."

"Shut-up," Cedric said jokingly, looking away and laughing wistfully.

Promise gasped and put her hands to her mouth. "Did you just say that to me?"

"What? Shut up? Yeah. It's not really a big deal. You tell me to shut up all the time."

"Yeah, but I'm also a female demigod who's really, really funny," she said seriously, so serious in fact, Cedric knew she was doing her best to keep a straight face. "And you are just some little prissy Pretty Boy who does nothing but live as the sole proprietor of Pretty Boy club and will one day become the Head Boy of this school after becoming the first Triwizard Champion in centuries because he can swim and make puppies and no one will remember the fact that he couldn't ask out a girl who was a year younger than him."

"Keep your voice down!" Cedric hissed, overcompensating for Promise's unnecessarily loud pitch.

"You mean shut up?" Promise asked, gloves coming off with her manner of speaking.

"Yes!" Cedric hissed. "If that's what you want to call it, then by all means!"

"Oh. Just wanted to make sure we understood each other," she said casually. "Now like I was saying, why didn't you stay at the bottom of the lake?"

"I was on autopilot. It's like you said. Being underwater… there was nothing to really do down there. I saw Cho, pulled out a knife, and cut her free and then swam to the surface. Harry probably stayed down there because both Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were down there and they're his best friends. If I saw you and Sam down there I probably would've stayed and made sure you were alright. But it was Cho Chang and only Cho Chang."

"And you don't care about Cho Chang?"

"Oh I care," Cedric said. "But it's more I don't want to hurt her than anything else."

"So dump her?" Promise said, stating the obvious.

"We're not dating!"

"Right, my bad," Promise said, rolling her eyes. "Date her once, and then dump her on the side of the street. A guy will pick her up in five minutes. I guaran-"

"Promise…"

Promise huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Four minutes. I get it."

"Promise!"

"Alright! Fine! Three and a half! But anything lower than that and it's just unrealistic. I think three and a half is pushing it as it is…"

"Promise…"

"You make it sound like I'm lying, Cedric. I'm not! If I lie, walk away, right now."

"You haven't lied yet," Cedric grumbled.

"That's right! Six years and not one lie! Jokes, countless jokes! Poking of the fun at people, but no lies. Keeps us honest."

"I think you just don't want me to walk away. That's why you said it on the train that first time."

Promise eyed him suspiciously. "Maybe. And maybe I've lied too."

"You haven't lied," Cedric smiled and shook his head. "I know you too well."

"Good evening," Sam said as she walked up to Cedric and Promise, Olivia smiling knowingly behind her. "Cedric, how are you?"

"Oh, he's great," Promise said. "Now if you'll excuse me, Olivia and I have… girly things to talk about. Yes, Cedric too girly for even your Pretty Boy ears. Olivia?"

"Oh yes, we will definitely be walking up the stairs and sleeping very soundly."

"Ermm, Olivia?" Promise said properly. "I already told him we'd be talking."

"So you did," Olivia said. "Sorry, it's been a long day."

"That it has," Promise said as they began to walk back up the stairs. "Who'da thought watching water move was more exciting than a best friend rescuing what the school _thinks _is his girlfriend from the bottom of a giant squid and Grindylows and Merpeople infested lake?"

They disappeared up the stairs, leaving Sam and Cedric looking at each other.

"So you enjoyed the task?" Cedric asked.

"The end of it," Sam nodded. "I had what you might call… an epiphany of sorts."

"Hopefully for the better," Cedric said, moving his head so he looked at her with the corners of his eyes. "It'd be bad if it wasn't for the better."

"No," Sam said, looking wistfully at Marcus's corner and smiling, butterflies shooting through her stomach as she shrugged her shoulders dreamily. "They were definitely for the better." She yawned loudly. "Now if you'll excuse me… I have to go get some sleep. Today was very trying, for both of us, right?"

"Yeah," Cedric said, unable to suppress a smile. Just the sound of her voice was so… riveting and uplifting.

"Goodnight, Cedric," Sam said pleasantly, making Cedric half drift off into the world of dreams.

"Night, Sam," he smiled at her. "Pleasant dreams."

"After today? Honest dreams…" she said, to some degree not understanding exactly what she was saying. "Whatever that means."

And Sam walked up the stairs and to bed.

Cedric stayed up and began to move around the room for the next half hour or so. He couldn't bring himself to talk to Marcus. Something about their relationship was just so… strange. He had noticed it the day after Christmas, and now it seemed even more so. A flock of fifth year Hufflepuffs had circled him and they were talking amicably, but Cedric noticed something about Marcus's laugh, his composure was so… fake. It was just so incredibly unbelievable to see someone who had worn his heart on his sleeve for so many months break character and put it back in his chest.

When he had finished his rounds and bid the Common Room a goodnight (to which the entire house cheered and applauded), Cedric climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitory and walked into his room. He was just about flop onto his bed when he froze, eyes completely fixated on a small parchment man lying on his pillow. Its legs were crossed, one kicking absentmindedly to some parchmenty tune, and its arms folded behind its head, with the points for arms cushioning his skull against the seemingly hard pillow. As Cedric stopped, the parchment man lifted its head and leapt into the air, instantly transforming itself into a paper airplane, which began to pelt Cedric's head.

"Ow! Ow!" Cedric cried and snatched the paper airplane. "All right! I'll read what you have to say." Slowly, not knowing what Promise could have possibly wanted, Cedric opened the letter, Promise's glinting, glittery silver ink beckoning him to read.

My dear, attractive, air-headed fish,  
Did you like the little man I created? Yes, I've been working countless hours to get him just right, but look! He works and it's amazing. I know you and "Menty" will get along fabulously.  
Anyways, what was I going to talk about? Oh dear me! I don't remember! It must have had something to do with… Sweenty! Yes! Sweenty! She's such fun, isn't she? We must say hi to her sometime. Or even better! We could invite her into our Common Room one night so she can clean or be my footrest or something.  
And yes, she'd enjoy that. Maybe we could get a whole platoon of them to fight against Voldemort, or even better! They could go shine my shoes, all two pairs of shoes I own. I could put seven on each pair, and tell them to shine for an hour until I could see my reflection from across the room.  
Yeah. I think that's about it when it comes to what I wanted to tell you. I just really missed these notes. We need to start them back up again in a really big way.  
Write back and tell me what you think!  
Promise  
P.S. Olivia told me Sam broke up with Marcus this afternoon. Thought you ought to know.

Cedric reread the last line seven times before it really registered what Promise had said. Without another second's hesitation, Cedric let Menty flutter to the floor like a leaf as he grabbed a bottle of sky blue ink, uncorked it, grabbed a quill from under his bed, and hastily snatched Menty just an instant before it hit the ground. Quickly finding a quiet place within himself to gain his composure, at least temporarily, he scribbled back a note to Promise.

Promise,  
Your idea is solid, but I'm not entirely sure what to think of making so many House Elves do such a menial task. Do your shoes really need to be that sparkly?  
And yes, Menty is impressive.  
Write back!  
Cedric  
P.S. WHAT?! You can't just leave me hanging like that! Who broke up with who? What happened?

With a flick of Cedric's wand, Menty folded itself back into a paper airplane and zipped out of the boy's dormitory, squeezing under the door. Cedric flopped back onto his bed, hands behind his head. Sam broke up with Marcus? When? Where? Why? How did-

Something rammed into his stomach. Cedric looked forward and saw Menty, standing on his stomach, tapping its leg on his robes. Only a Promise creation would do something like that. When Menty saw he was looking up, it unfolded itself, lying on Cedric's stomach, with a note from Promise scribbled beneath the note from Cedric.

To He-Who-Must-Be-Clueless  
The difference between you and me is I actually like to have nice things, even if I only have very few things that could be nicer than they already are. Unlike you, I have nice things.  
Much love!  
Promise  
P.S. What's to tell? She broke up with him after the Second Task.

Frowning slightly, Cedric pulled out his quill and began to write back to her.

Promise,  
I have nice things!  
Cedric  
P.S. When? Where?

With a tap, Menty folded itself back into the paper airplane and whizzed off to Promise's room. Why did Promise have to make it so difficult? Did she need to entertain herself all the time?

Cedric stood and began to pace in circles around the room and had completed his third circle when something jabbed itself into the back of Cedric's head. With the sound of unfolding parchment, Menty lofted to the ground with Promise's new note.

To the Man of Not My Dreams,  
Oh! Right! I forgot about that owl you have!  
Love (not in that way)  
Promise  
P.S. In the stands after you pulled Cho out of the lake. She walked up to us late, remember? And extra cheery! Didn't you wonder why?

Clenching his teeth in slight frustration, Cedric dropped to the ground and hastened to writing his response.

Promise,  
I have things that are as nice as Dani!  
Write back!  
Cedric  
P.S. That doesn't prove anything, they could be on a break or in a fight. Besides, why would she do that? There's no reason for it.

Cedric didn't even have to tap Menty to make it run back to Promise. Slowly, heavily, Cedric stood up. Now his reasons for spending so much time with Cho were done. There was really no need for it anymore. Did Promise really-

_Tap, tap, tap!_

Airplane Menty jabbed itself into Cedric's arm. Deftly, Cedric snatched it out of the air and began to read.

Your Deftiness,  
No you don't. So go get some nice things!  
Promise  
P.S. Could you be any more blind? Don't you understand what happened? Come on, Ced. Don't play dumb. Can't you believe for even one second that she likes you? Wasn't it obvious that- Oh no! I'm falling asleep. So before I go, I'm just going to say ask her if it matters so much to you. That, and- oh no!... Again! I'm going to sleep! Going… falling… going… sleeping… tired… sheep… Oh look! I'm gone! I'm asleep! Don't write back!  
P.P.S. Dang that was a long postscript.

Cedric scribbled a response hastily, hoping to patronize her and reach her before she fell to sleep.

Promise,  
I have nice things thank you very much, Miss Mansion.  
Love!  
Cedric  
P.S. Don't sleep! Don't leave me alone like this! I'm never ever going to leave you alone so there's no reason you should.

Half-expecting a response, Cedric walked back to his bed and lay down on it, daydreaming about Sam breaking up with Marcus until Menty landed on his face with another note.

To My Nightlight,  
I can't hear you, I'm sleeping.  
Still sleeping, despite your best and brightest efforts,  
Promise  
P.S. My God, Cedric! Just ask her about it. Stop pestering me. I don't know anything. Find a time, pull her aside and ask her. My goodness, it's not that hard. Just get over yourself.

Cedric took the insult lightly and wrote her another response, knowing full well she'd stay awake until the conversation was over.

Promise,  
Forget the post scripts.  
When should I talk to her?  
Cedric

Cedric felt his eyelids begin to droop even as Menty shot back to Promise's room. Maybe the Second Task did take a lot more out of him then he liked to imagine. But he needed to know what to do about Sam.

Dear My Impatient Best Friend,  
Oh, that's too bad! I was staying awake only for the postscripts and now I'm dreaming and things that could never happen are happening. See? A muggle just used some electricity.  
Dreaming,  
Promise  
P.S. Bother me about this no more. I told you what to do. Now go do it.  
P.P.S. Good night  
P.P.P.S. Seriously? If you bother me about this again, I'll kill you… violently, with my beautiful wand, which will look even more beautiful with your blood on it.

Yawning and giving into Promise's demand, Cedric wrote back a short response to what Promise had to say. She wouldn't help him anymore than she already had.

Promise,  
All right. Thank you.  
Good night.  
Cedric

Not expecting a response, Cedric closed his eyes, feeling himself already drift off into dream world until Menty came in and tapped him on the shoulder. Suddenly aggravated with what Promise had yet to say to him, Cedric opened what he vowed would be the last note of the evening.

My Pretty Boy,  
You're welcome.  
Good night and sweet dreams.  
Promise

Letting out a few laughs at the simplicity, yet thoughtfulness of Promise's note, Cedric smiled and blew out the candle by his bed, blanketing himself in darkness and wrapping himself in sleep.

* * *

For all the time Sam was now spending with Cedric in the absence of time with Marcus, there was, in actuality, very little time Cedric had to spend with her one-on-one. Between classes and homework and meals, Cedric didn't even have an opportunity to talk with her except about things that he would talk about with Olivia and Promise. 

To make matters worse, Olivia, under orders, Cedric guessed, from Promise, flat out refused to tell Cedric anything about Sam's break-up with Marcus. True to her word, Promise made sure no one would tell Cedric anything about the breakup and there was no real time for Cedric to ask Sam.

Now on this side of the Second Task, Cedric found out the second weekend after the Second Task was a Hogsmeade weekend. Elated with the prospect of finally getting some time alone with Sam, Cedric talked with Olivia and Promise, convincing them to give Cedric some time alone with her. He was about to ask Sam about spending some time checking out the shops when, true to the existence of living, Cho Chang appeared.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend, Cedric!" Cho said brightly on the way to Cedric's Arithmancy class the Monday before the Hogsmeade weekend. "And I was thinking we could go to this place I know of. It's called Madam Puddifoot's."

Cedric did his best to not roll his eyes. Everyone over the third year knew Madam Puddifoot's was the local teashop in Hogsmeade. It wasn't a pub like the Hog's Head or the Three Broomsticks. No, it was a date location, a place where couples went for alone time, where they could do practically whatever they wanted. Cedric had thus far stayed away from the place, and had never really gone in there. Watching people kiss nonstop for hours on end wasn't Cedric's idea of a good time. Nor, thankfully, was it Promise's, who had always made it a point to stay away from the couples' hangout.

He was about to protest when Promise spoke up. "He'd love to go with you!"

Cedric glared at her. "I would?"

"Yes, you would," Promise nodded. "Calvin Parker wanted to take me there this weekend too, and I figure we can double date."

"Date?" Cedric asked, in such a way to make it sound like he was referring to double dating and instead of dating Cho.

"Not just a date," Promise said, being bubbly for the first time in months. "A double date! What do you say, Cho?"

Cho squealed a response. "That sounds wonderful. What time shall we meet?"

"Eleven?" Cedric suggested.

"Just the time I was going to say," Promise smiled, looking at Cedric.

"I can't wait!" Cho exclaimed and kissed Cedric on the cheek. "See you later?"

"Yeah," Cedric said apprehensively, eyes still fixated on Promise.

Cho giggled and headed off a side corridor towards Charms.

"What are you planning?" Cedric asked as they finally reached Professor Vector's classroom.

"I'll tell you inside," Promise smiled as they entered and took their seats in the back of the room.

Professor Vector was a fun, enjoyable teacher. For all the fun she encouraged the students to have in her class, though, she was incredibly against talking and passing notes.

With the creation of Menty, however, passing notes in Professor Vector's class had become easier, especially in the back, where Professor Vector couldn't see a tiny little parchment man skitter across the floor all the way between the occasionally separated Cedric and Promise.

As they sat down, Promise pulled out a scrap of parchment and began to scribble a note to Cedric. With a flick, she turned the scrap into another Menty, who skittered across the table to transfer the message to Cedric. Cedric made sure Professor Vector had begun her lecture and had her back turned to him when he opened the note.

_Meet Menty III: The Sequel. So, what was it you wanted to talk about?_

_What are you planning? _Cedric wrote back.

Menty made three leaps towards Promise, who tapped him and read Cedric's response. With a few quill strokes, she sent Menty back to Cedric.

_Why, whatever do you mean, best friend of love and friendship of loving and being lovde friend?_

Cedric shot her a glare and she shrugged her shoulders, pretending to not know exactly what he was talking about.

_What are you planning for Saturday?_

Cedric's eyes flitted towards the front of the classroom as he copied down into his notes the complex equation Professor Vector was using as an example. Just because he was passing notes with Promise didn't mean he didn't have to not learn. True, Professor Vector would probably frown upon such-

Menty III slid open to a stop at Cedric's wrists.

_Partner swap. You get Calvin Parker, I get Cho._

Cedric couldn't help it. He released a sharp, harsh sounding laugh.

"Mr. Diggory," Professor Vector said, still facing the board and looking down at her textbook to make sure she copied down the problem correctly. "Ms. Ledger. If you will please pick up your belongings and move to opposite ends of the classroom."

Cedric picked up his bag and moved silently while Promise argued with Professor Vector. It was a mark of their relationship that Promise could say the things she did and Professor Vector would not fault her except to retort in an attempt to top her, all this for the purpose of entertaining the class, of course.

"What do you mean, Vec'? What did we do to deserve that?"

"Mr. Diggory laughed, Miss Ledger, and because I very much doubt I did something funny enough for one person to laugh as he did I can only assume it was from someone sitting next to him, i.e., you."

"Oh come on Vec'! It's not my fault our future Head Boy can't help but laugh whenever her looks at your overly large posterior!"

Cedric suppressed a laugh as Promise commented on the size of Professor Vector's backside. It was widely known throughout the various Arithmancy classes that Professor Vector worked out constantly to keep her body in tip-top condition, which included daily jogs around the lake, making her the most physically fit of any of the teachers at Hogwarts. There was a vague legend started some years ago that Professor Vector had been Keeper for the Pride of Portree until she was replaced by Meaghan McCormack, daughter of legendary Chaser Catriona McCormack. Cedric and Promise had once tried to convince her to start a Faculty Quidditch team in a purely scrimmage capacity, but Professor Vector just waved them off vaguely before shutting her office door behind her, at which point Cedric caught a glimpse of a very young Professor Vector shaking hands with Catriona McCormack, both bedecked in the purple playing robes of the Pride of Portree.

"Why, thank you, Miss Ledger," Professor Vector said, playing the cool, calm, and collected player in the argument this time. "Mr. Diggory, it would greatly please me if you would cease to look at my overly large posterior."

"Of course, Professor," Cedric said, looking down in fake shame. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Professor Vector nodded, face now buried in the book. "And Miss Ledger, if you would do the same, that too would greatly please me."

"Sorry, Professor," Promise said, shouldering her bag and moving to the opposite end of the classroom from Cedric. "But sometimes it's just so large and in the way! I want to just take a quill and… pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" Her voice faded with her inappropriate sound effect.

"Miss Ledger, I would appreciate it if you didn't call me fat. I already know I have such meat on these bones I can barely lift myself out of bed in the morning, but that doesn't mean you need to go around making a big deal out of it to the whole class, now if you'll excuse me," She walked to her desk and pulled open a drawer, withdrawing a decent sized, circular chocolate cake. "That brings me to our next major topic: cyclical Arithmancy."

Cedric pulled out Menty III and hastily scribbled a response.

_No, seriously. I'm worried now, what are you doing?_

Menty III scuttled across the floor silently, unbeknownst to anyone except Promise and himself.

"Now the interesting thing about cyclical Arithmancy is the ability to predict recurrences in events," Professor Vector explained, beginning to cut thin slices of the frostingy chocolate cake with precise lines she drew with her wand. "Occasionally, time and actions can fall into a monotony, making existence somewhat boring, except to us Arithmeticians! You see, if we can discover a pattern in observed behavior, we can accurately predict the behavior of the observed if it rolls around again, so long as the observed does not realize this problem and take steps to correct it."

Menty III climbed up Cedric's trouser leg and stayed there until Cedric had temporarily finished taking notes on Professor Vector's explanation.

_What? You don't trust me? It's a double date! I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your relationship with Cho… Or would I? No, seriously, I wouldn't. You have to get out of that one yourself…_

_So what are you planning? _Cedric wrote back, dropping a quickly re-forming Menty III back to the ground.

"Once the observed has noticed the problem and taken steps these natural recurrences, the predictability of this pattern becomes obsolete and impossible to utilize anymore," Professor Vector continued, slicing more identical slices into the chocolate cake. "People very rarely slip back into this problem, but if, for some reason, they want to, the person will somehow change the issue slightly to better suit his or her needs. Once the cycle has been broken, it can never come back exactly as it was before."

Menty III climbed up the desk leg and unfolded itself on Cedric's desk.

_A double date, didn't you hear?_

Cedric thought for a moment before responding. _You're dating Calvin Parker, now?_

Cedric whisked Menty III off the table as Professor Vector continued cutting cake and explaining.

"The cyclical nature of life however, holds one constant. At one point, an Arithmetician discovered the cyclical nature of life brings about two things: chaoticness then predictability then chaoticness etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

Menty III made a spectacular leap to Cedric's lap and opened itself, revealing Promise's latest note.

_It's… complicated._

_What do you mean it's complicated? And how could you go so long without telling me? Details, woman! Details!_

"Many people in Arithmancy have said the same thing about people in regards to relationships," Professor Vector continued. "Many people, in fact, all people go through cycles of dating. I'm sure many of you have dated someone, and if you aren't remember it this way: people, in dating specifically, go through various relationships for a long time before settling on one thing. While in a relationship, things become constant and predictable. When someone leaves the relationship, however, their life becomes chaotic, unpredictable, except by using Abstract Arithmancy, which you will learn next year."

_I don't even know when to begin. We've been talking a lot, mainly through Menties. They're great convoys between classes and we've been talking a lot about… nothing (I know, I'm cheating on you, get over it… and yourself. Get over that too…) and last week he asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. He mentioned Madam Puddifoot's…_

Promise had reached the bottom of the page. Confused, Cedric turned Menty III over, but just found complex, yet obviously fake Transfiguration notes. With a tap, he reformed Menty III.

"Where's the rest?" he mouthed to Menty III.

Menty III shrugged its parchment shoulders. Cedric rolled his eyes, tapped his wand on Menty, sending him to sheet form again.

_And?_ He hastily scribbled in the bottom corner as small as he could.

With a tap, he lit Menty on fire. He made sure to use a special, non-parchment-burning purple fire Promise had designed. It was a sign between the two of them: Make another note. Running towards Promise frantically, taking the attention of several students with it, Menty III skidded to a halt in front of her, tugging her robes hard. With a wave, Promise put him out and looked over at Cedric, sticking her tongue out while she pulled out another piece of parchment.

"For now, I'd like to point out something," Professor Vector said, either not noticing a small flaming parchment doll run across the back of the classroom or turning a blind eye to it, too pleased with the work Cedric and Promise had done in the past to care. "As you learned when you first walked into this class, Basic Arithmancy is essentially learning about specific points in the lives of whoever you might be studying at the time. Cyclical Arithmancy is used to figure out a rough estimate of how to apply Basic Arithmancy. It really isn't an exact magic so much as it is incredibly accurate educated guessing. It's somewhere between Abstract Arithmancy and Basic Arithmancy. It tries to learn specific things about specific points through patterns. This is kind of like what we'll be doing next year, but Abstract is on an incredibly different scale, often defining specific details unforeseeable by overarching patterns."

"Erm, Professor," Terrence Stamp raised his hand. "I'm really enjoying what you're teaching us, but what does this have to do with chocolate cake?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Stamp!" Professor Vector said as she reached into her desk and pulled out another chocolate cake, identical to the one had neatly sliced on her desk. "It's a feeble example really, but… watch." With a few random wand strokes, she sliced the cake into sections rather than slices so that the cake could come out in triangles or cubes or other three dimensional objects. "The first cake, the one I sliced nicely," she held it up for the class to see. "Is an example of what we've been able to do before. We could calculate the happenings of a a life if it was set in perfect harmony. Now? Using cyclical Arithmancy, we can discuss predictability based on past behavior and how their current situation defines their lives. What do the cakes have to do with anything? The first represents what you were able to do before, with perfect slices. Now? You can do with the second cake, with random chaoticness. That, and all students love chocolate cake. This is probably my favorite lesson just because I get to add some pounds onto my thighs. Isn't that right, Miss Ledger?"

Cedric looked over at the new Menty, who had just scurried off the desk in time for Professor Vector to not see it. Promise looked up as Professor Vector acknowledged her.

"Precisely, Professor."

"For once we agree on things," Professor Vector smiled. "Now everyone gets one piece of the perfect cake, and one from what I call 'Chaotic Chocolate.'"

"You love that word, don't you, Professor?" Promise said, standing up for a piece of cake.

"What can I say?" Professor Vector asked, using the wand in her right hand to levitate a section of "Chaotic Chocolate" into the palm of her left hand. "I like things being chaotic. Those are the funnest problems." She transferred the cake to her right hand and licked the chocolate frosting and residue crumbs from her left. "Here's an example."

_Splat!_

It happened so fast, Cedric never got a chance to see it completely. One second Promise was standing at the back of the classroom, ready to walk forward and get cake. Cedric had picked up Menty and put him in his robe pocket. When he looked back Promise had chocolate cake on the front of her dress robes. She looked down and laughed as Professor Vector licked her right hand clean.

"Oh you so just didn't do that…" Promise threatened.

"I think I did, Miss Ledger," Professor Vector said somewhat unsurely.

Promise laughed and, still smiling, magicked a cake into existence, keeping it levitated at shoulder level. With a few quick swishes of her wand, Promise sliced her cake into dozens of small sections, much like Professor Vector's chaotic cake. Taking a small, little piece from her cake with her fingers, Promise looked at Professor Vector, who smiled and held her arms out parallel to the ground, exposing her chest, taunting Promise.

Promise grinned mischievously. "Victory, thy name is chocolate."

With a flick of her wrist, Promise flung the piece of chocolate cake, landing it on the right side of Professor Vector's face. As though insulted, Professor Vector sneered and wiped it away from her face with her fingers. Tentatively, as though Promise had somehow poisoned the cake, she put her fingers in her mouth and sucked the chocolate from them. She moved her jaw up and down very quickly, creating a sickening sort of smacking sound as she tasted Promise's cake.

"That's some cake," Professor Vector said, impressed. "Your own creation?"

Promise nodded, eyes filled with the desire to throw more cake.

"What's your secret?"

"Sugar," Promise said venomously.

"I see," Professor Vector nodded understandingly as she eyed Promise.

They stood glaring at each other for a long time, teacher against student, challenging the other to make the first move. The tension grew and grew, students, Cedric included, wondering exactly what was going to happen between the two.

Without warning, Professor Vector shouted a single rallying cry.

"Sides!!!"

In an instant, Promise had grabbed her cake, kicked over the nearest desk, and held it out for more people to take. Within seconds, the entire class had chosen sides, but didn't have nearly enough time to make it to an advantageous point before Promise had begun to throw cake at a very quickly fortressed-behind-her-desk Professor Vector,. Cedric just barely managed to flip over his desk when a white, vanilla cake appeared at his feet. He chanced a glance over his desk.

The room, just like Professor Vector had predicted, had descended into chaos. Students were throwing magically appeared cake at anyone they could, Promise constantly threw cake at Professor Vector, excepting in the rare occasion someone threw something at her, to which she conjured up another cake, cut it in half and threw all that she could at the assailant.

Cedric was only able to stay above desk level for a few more seconds before someone pelted him in the face with a chunk of carrot cake. Picking up the vanilla cake by his feet and slicing it hastily and chaotically like Professor Vector and Promise, he began to throw hunks at whoever he saw, sides be damned. The first time he hit Promise, he managed to make it look like Tony Bronstone had attacked her, but the second, she caught him doing it and magically made a cake appear over his head and dropped it on him, cake splattering his robes and hair.

When all the cake was strewn around the room, clustered on walls in gobs and stuck to desks in chunks and the students had become walking covered-in-chocolate-and-vanilla-frosting-over-their-robes entities, Professor Vector called a ceasefire.

"See how that works?" Professor Vector said, emerging from behind her completely-plastered-with-chocolate desk, licking the various cakes off her robes, face, and arms as the students did the same. "You come in with a definite cycle in mind, but then things descend into chaos, and quickly. Now? They're back to normal. And everything is good. _Scurgify_!"

With a quick suctioning sound, the room and all its occupants returned to their pre-Cake War state shiny and beautiful.

"Class dismissed."

Cedric picked up his bag and turned his desk right side up as Promise walked up to him.

"You read it?" Promise asked as they headed down to lunch.

"Not yet," Cedric confessed. "You just had to throw that piece of cake at Professor Vector, didn't you?"

"Hey! She started it! It's not my fault she had to throw that piece at me!"

Cedric sighed as he sat down for lunch and pulled out Promise's note.

"I'm all full now," Promise said lazily as Sam and Olivia sat down.

"You are?" Olivia asked. "Why?"

"Learn about Cyclical Arithmancy next year and you'll see what I mean."

"Right," Sam said skeptically. "So, Cedric," she asked. "What are you doing at Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Hmmm?" Cedric said, looking at Promise's note, but not quite focusing on what it said. "What?"

"Hogsmeade!" Promise said a little louder. "What are you doing for it?"

"You already know," Cedric said, looking up, confused.

"Uh huh," Promise nodded. "But Sam doesn't."

"Huh?" Cedric asked as his eyes landed on Sam, who looked at him expectantly. "Oh! I'm… going on a double date with Promise," he said sheepishly.

"Oh," Sam said, looking down at her plate, completely disheartened.

"I asked him to," Promise explained, eyeing a turkey sandwich with something between longing and disgust. "Cho asked him, and I needed someone to keep me company with Calvin Parker."

"So you're going with him?" Olivia squealed girlishly.

"Looks like," Promise shrugged, smiling slightly.

Cedric focused his attention back to the letter.

_Cedric, meet Menty IV: This Time it's Personal. Menty IV: This Time it's Personal, Cedric. So he wants to take me to Madam Puddifoot's and I have no idea what to do. I mean… come on! Who is this guy! First he sweeps me off my feet by dancing with me to get me to go to the dance, and then we're on the dance floor during one of those bloody awful slow dances and he kisses me! Kisses me! Can you believe that? And me, not being the girl that I should be, stay with him all night… and then we went outside for a few minutes into that god-awful grotto out there and… kissed some more… and then the night ended and I was like that's it and then afterwards we didn't really talk except through these blasted notes and I don't know what to do about it and last night he asked me out to Madam Puddifoot's which is a total date place and I figure I'm not sure if I want to go because it's Madam Puddifoot's but I told him I'd think about it and see if you wanted to go with me because if I go alone with him I'm going to feel really awkward and cynical and that's really a bad thing because then it'll be like I don't really like him, or rather… I don't like spending time with him. But I want to have my cake and eat it too because this is the last Hogsmeade trip of the year so I figure I might as well get the best of both worlds and bring you along with Cho Chang because God knows she's going to do something incredibly stupid to mess you two up which is too priceless for me to not catch because then you could date Sam which would be perfection times seven and now I'm rambling so I'm going to shut up so if you think I should say yes to Calvin Parker (which means you're coming too dammit! And with Cho… dammit!) then say "Of course, Professor,", but if you don't want to go and then make me say no to Calvin Parker say "Professor Vector, I hate you because you're so obese.."_

Cedric looked up at Promise, who was watching him while Sam and Olivia talked about something or another. With a smile he looked at her and bit his lip, thinking hard about what his answer was, or rather, pretending to think about what to say to Promise.

"Well?" She said, exasperated after a minute of his faux-thinking. "What do you say?"

Cedric inhaled and exhaled heavily before responding. "Of course, Professor."

* * *

Saturday was approaching too quickly for Cedric. The time he was now spending in Sam's company (with Olivia and Promise being there, of course) felt incredibly confined. It was like his going on a date with Cho, even if it was a double date, somehow solidified his relationship with her. Before it was fun and games, but now… things became awkward, even more so then they had been before. 

Desperately, two nights before the Hogsmeade visit, when they were all sitting around a table, talking casually while working on various classes' homework, Cedric made an appeal to Sam in an attempt to talk about something, anything just to get the talking going again when Olivia tactlessly brought up the point of the Hogsmeade weekend.

"Why don't I meet you?" Cedric asked.

It came out before he could help it. Promise shot him a look, questioning his sudden, inexplicable daring.

"Really?" Sam asked, elated. "What time?"

"Ummm," Cedric looked to Promise, confused. "We should be done by twelve thirty?"

Promise grabbed Cedric by the shoulders and moved ahead of him. "We'll certainly be done by twelve thirty. And you'll meet…"

"Wherever?" Cedric said suggestively.

"I don't know that place," Sam said ponderingly . "But how about the Three Broomsticks? That place is always fun. Sound good?"

"Sounds good!" Cedric said.

"Olivia," Sam said, overconfidence overpowering her voice. "I was going to go study potions for that test we have tomorrow. Wanna help?"

"I'd be glad to," Olivia smiled, shooting a very pleased look at Cedric, unbeknownst to Sam as she walked away to a different table to work on O.W.L. Potions homework.

"I'm impressed," Promise nodded, looking at Cedric. "I can't believe you just did that? You're really going to ditch Cho?"

"Actually, I'm ditching you," Cedric said. "Cho's free to come along. It's Sam that's the point. I just miss talking to her, Promise. She's so… everything."

"I know," Promise said, bored. "So you should do something about it."

"Like what?" Cedric asked.

"You could dump Cho."

"But I haven't dated her."

"_Yet_!" Promise said pointedly. "You haven't dated her _yet_. Cho has yet to date you, which, gasp! She's going to have done by Saturday at twelve thirty."

Cedric eyed her suspiciously. "Did you plan this?"

"Maybe," Promise said vaguely as she turned back to her work. "Just maybe…"

* * *

Saturday approached slower after that. The feeling of dread and terror at the thought of spending an hour or so with Sam with perhaps or perhaps not Cho as company was exhilarating. Then, because things rush at the end, Saturday slapped Cedric in the face and he found himself in the Entrance Hall with Promise, waiting for Cho Chang and Calvin Parker, who came down the marble staircase together, talking casually.

"Good morning!" Cho said brightly, skipping up to Cedric and hugging him tightly.

"Morning," Cedric half-muttered, half-hugging back.

"Morning, Promise," Calvin Parker said, overly formal and gentlemanly.

"Morning, Mr. Parker," Promise responded, even more airily.

"So…" Calvin Parker said. "Shall we go?"

They nodded and headed out through the oak front doors and out onto the lawn. For what had started as such an overcast morning, the day had begun to transform into something warmer, and Cedric founded his sweater made him cook like a roasted chicken.

They trekked down the lawn and to the front gates and turned to the main road that led into Hogsmeade in silence.

"So…" Calvin Parker said, trying to break the silence. "How is everyone?"

"Good!" Cho said, first to speak up. "Although this weather is pretty crazy. This is the first weekend in March and it's already going to be sweltering by the time we get there!"

"I kinda like it," Cedric said, playing devil's advocate. "It's a pleasant change from the Second Task a week and a half ago."

"Yeah," Calvin Parker looked at him accusingly, as though Cedric didn't have any idea what Calvin Parker had to endure. "Except you didn't have to be bored out on the lake's shore bored for an hour."

Promise whirled on him. "The Second Task bored you too?"

"To tears," Calvin Parker nodded. "And the champions still didn't make it in time. Know what I think? I think the judges were like, 'okay. We need to top our last task… so we'll take something this time so it's another recovery mission, just like the first task and the golden egg, but this time, we'll put them underwater.' 'Well that doesn't sound very exciting for the spectators,' someone probably said. 'Oh don't worry,' someone else recommended, 'we'll put some insane time limit on it and make it more exciting.'"

Promise laughed. "That's kind of what I thought, but I didn't take it to that extent."

"Yes!" Calvin Parker outstretched his arm in front of him, keeping it parallel to the ground and pulled it in quickly. "Score one for Mr. Calvin Parker! Calvin Parker leads Promise Ledger ten points to zero."

"Oh, so it's a competition, now?" Promise asked intimidating, nodding her head in competitiveness.

"Guess so," Calvin Parker sneered mockingly at her.

"Oh it's on, buddy boy," Promise clapped her hands together and rubbed them hungrily. "And if I win, Cedric gets your job next year."

"Cedric gets my job next year no matter what you do," Calvin Parker said, stating the obvious. "Score another for Parker! He's now leading Promise twenty to zero!"

Promise scowled.

"Actually," Cedric said. "I really wasn't going for Head Boy."

"It just kind of lands in your lap?" Calvin Parker asks.

"Yeah, he's slightly more amazing than you because he actually has talent," Promise said tauntingly.

"Damn," Calvin Parker nodded, impressed as they came within sight of Hogsmeade. "That was good. Ten points to Promise, but Calvin Parker's still winning twenty to ten!"

"If we're playing this little game," Promise said suspiciously. "What are we playing for?"

"A house full of furniture and a trip to Europe," Calvin Parker said instinctively.

"We're in Europe," Promise said. "And what would I do with a house?"

"Right, my bad," Calvin Parker shook his head, disgusted with himself. "My parents and I went to the America this past summer and we were listening to the wizarding wireless and I swear that's all they would compete for. It just got ingrained in my head. Ummm… How about… if you win you never have to talk to me again."

Promise eyed him suspiciously. "And if I lose?"

"Well we'll just have to so this again, now won't we? And you can try to beat me then."

Promise rolled her eyes. "Cuz that's so hard to do?"

"Is she always like this?" Cho asked.

"Yeah, didn't you ever notice?" Cedric asked, rather surprised at Cho's cluelessness.

It was strange, but they were almost to the entrance of Hogsmeade and Cho had yet to hold his hand or even kiss him on the cheek as was customary for their talking and spending time with each other. It wasn't that he was complaining. He just found it odd that the physical pretense of their relationship had mysteriously vanished. Maybe Promise had…

"So, Calvin Parker," Promise said, saying his full name as she always did and speaking like a journalist interviewing . "Why on earth did you choose Madam Puddifoot's as a choice of teashop?"

Calvin Parker thought about it for a minute. "I thought you'd like it," he said finally. "You seem like the type of person who would find Madam Puddifoot's… romantic."

Of all the responses Calvin Parker could have possibly thrown at Promise (perhaps to win a point was Cedric's initial reaction) Cedric certainly didn't expect this response. Even Promise was speechless for a minute.

"You think I'm romantic?" Promise said, using cynicism to mask what Cedric recognized as flattery.

"I know what I see," Calvin Parker said as they finally reached Madam Puddifoot's. "So shall we go in and be… romantic?"

"Only if you could actually be a guy!" Promise said, already recovering from her shock. "Bam! Score one more for Promise. Score is twenty twenty!"

"Touché," Calvin Parker said as he pulled open the door to Madam Puddifoot's and held it open for Promise, Cho, and Cedric to enter. "But real guys are honest."

"Like Ceddy boy!" Promise said, looking at Cedric and then, when no one was looking, flicking her head at Cho Chang.

"Yes, Promise, like Ceddy boy," Calvin Parker said, entering the teashop. "Excellent job on your tasks, by the way, Mr. Diggory."

"It's Cedric," Cedric said, looking around at the teashop.

It was mind numbing, this teashop. It was everything Cedric had expected. Tables were small and circular, large enough for cups of tea and a candle and that was about it. They weren't very wide, small enough that, Cedric realized, if he wasn't careful he'd find himself in a very intense game of footsie with Cho Chang.. It was quaint and slightly romantic, or at least, the most romantic place in Hogsmeade, but not a place he'd want to go with someone like Sam. It represented a sort of artificiality of love, or at least, what teenagers called love. It wasn't quite in his taste, and he knew Promise certainly wouldn't like it. Maybe Calvin Parker was…

"Table for four?" Calvin Parker asked the very short and happy looking Madam Puddifoot.

Her face drooped and she looked behind her to her modest establishment. The happy, cheeriness she had just had as a pretense was now suddenly gone from her face. "Do you see a table for four?"

"Can you accommodate us?" Calvin Parker fired back.

Scowling, Madam Puddifoot turned around and flicked her wand, making two unoccupied circular tables bump together, creating a really strange amalgam of two circular tables that didn't quite work together. The five or six other couples in the teashop looked to see what the ruckus was about before turning back to gaze at each other. "Does that work for you?"

"Yes, thank you very much. Shall we?" Calvin Parker asked.

They walked to the weird mutant table and sat down, Cedric next to Promise and across from Cho, with Calvin Parker across from Promise.

"What'll it be?" Madam Puddifoot asked, pulling out a small note pad, uncorking the small, portable inkbottle attached to the top of the it, and conjuring a quill with her wand. She snatched it out of the air and dipped it in the small ink bottle, prepared to begin taking their order.

"Well what do you have?" Calvin Parker asked brightly.

Madam Puddifoot deadpanned at him for a minute. "Tea."

"Any food?"

Madam Puddifoot kept looking at him. "Do you know where you are?"

"Madam Puddifoot's!" Calvin Parker stated affirmatively. "It's supposed to be this quaint tea shop in Hogsmeade, great for couples."

"Couples, dear," Madam Puddifoot said, smiling a very fake smile. "Not quartets."

Calvin Parker put his hands out, palms up. "Haven't you ever heard of a double date?"

"Not at Madam Puddifoot's, dear," Madam Puddifoot said, still smiling very artificially.

"Huh," Calvin Parker said. "Well, we'll have the tea," he said, nodding convincingly, pausing between each individual word to make sure everyone was on the same page.

"You don't say," Madam Puddifoot said monotonously. "What kind of tea?"

"Something orange if you don't mind!" Cho said very brightly. "I heard you have this very delightful… what is it called? Angel Orange?"

"Of course, dear! That's a very popular choice!" Madam Puddifoot said, a genuine yet patronizing smile on her face. Obviously Cho Chang was the type of customer Madam Puddifoot typically had, one she preferred to deal with.

Promise shot Cho a very disgusted look. "Have you been here before?"

"No, why do you ask?" Cho said, looking incredibly bewildered by Promise's question.

"Huh," Promise said, "Because you seem to have this system perfect."

"System?" Cho asked, still confused. "What system?"

"It's nothing," Calvin Parker said, not wanting to ostracize Cho Chang. "What kind of tea do we want?"

"Bring us all Angel Oranges," Cedric said, playing the mediator.

Promise spoke out. "But I don't want-"

"We'll take the orange," Cedric said, silencing Promise with a look as he placed his hand on hers.

"Your tea will be right up!" Madam Puddifoot said cheerily as she magicked the quill away, and recorked her ink bottle, placing the pad back into her apron. With a smile and a nod, she left to go prepare their tea.

"Why did you do that?" Promise snapped at Cedric. "I don't want any of your orange tea!"

"Really?" Cho Chang asked. "I hear it's delightful."

"I'm not a big fan of orange," Promise said, much like Madam Puddifoot would have if someone had said anything about the natural order of the teashop.

"Really?" Calvin Parker said, ignoring an about-to-protest Cho Chang. "That's interesting, why do you say that? I've always been rather neutral to the color orange."

"Something about the color orange…" Promise said vaguely, forming her argument as she spoke. "It's just so… disgusting looking. It's a very repulsive color. There's not much that can be said that's nice about the color orange."

"What about oranges?" Calvin Parker asked.

"Well there's that," Promise said, "But that falls under the category of 'not much' doesn't it? Besides, oranges you have to be really particular about. You don't want to take a huge bite out of a really sour orange."

"What about a tart orange?" Calvin Parker said, almost interrupting her.

"Tart is good," Promise nodded, conceding to what Calvin Parker said. "But there's a very fine line between tart and sour."

"True," Calvin Parker nodded. "But let's get back to your hating of the color orange."

"Right, so orange," Promise began again. "It's really a combination of the colors red and yellow. Now red, in my opinion is a pretty solid color, very naturally vibrant, much like purple. Yellow is really a meh color. Personally I'm pushing for more of a purple for posterity when it comes to Hufflepuff, but Helga Hufflepuff, being… Helga Hufflepuff was a huge yellow fan, so I'm going to comment on how much of an ugly color it is. It's a lot cooler to see red, or blue or even green Quidditch robes zipping past on the Quidditch fields. But yellow? Something about it is… tacky. People wonder why Hufflepuffs get such a bad rep and I think it's because we walk around with big yellow badgers on our chest. Truthfully, the badger is cool, almost as cool as your raven," she nodded at Calvin Parker. "But it's the yellow that really… 'oh you guys wear yellow! That's so awesome… not!' you know? Then you get to orange and that's just such a joke of a color. No one takes orange seriously. It has the vibrancy of red with the seriousness of yellow. That means anything orange stands out and can't be taken seriously at all."

"I happen to like the color orange," Madam Puddifoot said, standing over them with a tray of four cups of tea and a tall glass container of sugar.

"I think that puts you in the majority of one," Promise said. "But that's okay, you can try to take it back. I won't stop you. But then again… I won't help you either."

"Promise! Be nice!" Calvin Parker said, wincing at Promise's incredibly rude comment.

"It's perfectly alright, deary," Madam Puddifoot said, smiling that same fake smile at Promise. "I don't listen to my customers all that often anymore. I heard far too much many years ago and I tend to not interrupt in their conversations. Now, who had the Angel Orange?"

"Ummm…" Calvin Parker spoke up. "We all did."

"That's very lovely, dear," Madam Puddifoot nodded. "But who had the Angel Orange?" She said overly pointedly.

"That'd be me," Cho Chang said, putting her finger up, calling for her tea.

"Of course! How silly of me!" Madam Puddifoot said. "Now, who had the Angel Orange?"

Promise, Cedric, and Calvin Parker exchanged glances, wondering if this woman was for real.

"That was mine," Cedric chirped up.

"Excellent," Madam Puddifoot said brightly. "It's the house specialty. I think you'll enjoy it. Now who had the Angel Orange?"

Cedric watched expectantly as Promise and Calvin Parker very deliberately made eye contact, smirked, and turned to Madam Puddifoot, simultaneously saying. "I did."

Cedric snorted into his tea as Madam Puddifoot looked at them both, perplexed. "I missed that, I'm sorry, dear?"

"Oh that was you?" Promise asked, looking at Calvin Parker very concernedly. "I'm sorry, I must have had my order mixed up.

"No! I'm sorry! You go first, by all means!" Calvin Parker said, throwing his hands up defensively.

"But that's your Angel Orange tea."

"No, no! It's yours!" Calvin Parker said very insistently. "Take it!"

"I couldn't possibly…"

"Yes, you could!" He turned to Madam Puddifoot. "That Angel Orange is her tea."

"No it's not," Promise glared at him. "I assure you, it's his."

"This is all very confusing," Madam Puddifoot said, beginning to grow antsy from Promise and Calvin Parker's argument. "Which one of you ordered it?"

"That was me," Promise said, waving slightly. "I'll take it."

"That's better," Madam Puddifoot said, placing the cup in front of her. "And finally… Ah! The Angel Orange! Whose is this?"

"That one's mine!" Calvin Parker said, very sure of himself.

"Excellent," Madam Puddifoot said, placing the tea in front of him. "Enjoy your tea."

"Oh we will," Promise said.

"It is quite excellent," Cho nodded. "And not too hot, either."

"Why thank you, dear!" Madam Puddifoot said brightly, completely oblivious to the outlandish comments Promise and Calvin Parker were saying. "Aren't you just the sweetest thing?"

Cho blushed as Madam Puddifoot walked away and continued sipping her tea.

"She forgot the sugar!" Promise complained.

"Maybe it doesn't need it," Cedric suggested, about to taste his own.

"How about a toast?" Calvin Parker said. "To fake teashops!"

Promise looked at him smugly. "I like the way you think."

"This shop isn't fake!" Cho said, looking confused… again. "It's cute!"

"To teashops and friends," Cedric smiled, changing the toast slightly to better please everyone.

"I'll drink to that," Calvin Parker said.

They all took sips together, Cho savoring the tea. Cedric only had to smell the tea and let a drop touch his tongue to know what was going to happen next.

He was just in time to wave his wand when Promise spit out the tea she had just drunk. The drops froze in midair halfway across the table, right on their path to Calvin Parker, who was doing his best to not make a face as he choked down his tea. It reminded Cedric of the World Cup, when Promise had saved him from spilling tea all over himself just as Sam had walked up.

"This tastes awful!" She gagged.

"Really?" Cho asked, concerned. "I think it's great! I'll have yours."

"Gladly!" Promise said. She was halfway to completely handing over her cup to Cho when an idea hit her. She looked over at a table nearby, where a couple sat kissing passionately, oblivious to the world around them. "On second thought, I'll keep it, I'll see what I can do with some sugar! Madam Puddifoot did forget to get us some." She pulled out her wand and waved it, levitating the tall canister of sugar to their table. "Anyone want some?" She asked once it was in her hand.

"I'd much rather just not drink it," Calvin Parker said.

"It wasn't awful," Cedric said.

"Awful enough for you to know Promise would hate it," Calvin Parker looked at her as Promise began to dump tons and tons of sugar into her cup of tea. "Think you have enough?"

"Almost," Promise said, finishing the heavy stream of sugar with a quick flourish. "There we go."

"Can't you just make your own tea?" Cedric asked

"Shhh," Promise said. "I might like it with this much sugar," Promise said, waving her wand and stirring the sugar. Normally, Cedric wouldn't have noticed anything, but the way Promise was waving seemed to have a pattern, but it was a pattern Cedric couldn't really discern from where he was sitting. After a few more strokes, she looked in her cup and nodded. "Cedric, does this look properly stirred to you?"

"Ummm…." Cedric mused. looking forward into her cup, not having an inkling of an idea why Promise would be so fixated on him looking at a cup of incredibly sugary tea.

It took him a minute to figure out exactly what he was looking at. He did a double take at Promise, furrowing his brow. She nodded at him encouragingly and he looked back. It was one of the strangest things he had ever seen Promise do. In the tea, all of the sugar Promise had poured in had surfaced and created mounds of white that had snaked themselves into a message.

_So what do you think of him?_

Cedric's foot slipped forward from its position locked behind the chair's leg and made brief, fleeting contact with Cho. He looked at her and she smiled. Next thing he knew she was using her suddenly shoeless foot to rub his leg and she was smiling at him, flirtatiously.

"Well, Cedric?" Promise asked, looking at him very specifically. "Does it look stirred?"

Cedric looked at Calvin Parker, who was looking very much like Cho when she was confused, completely clueless to everything that had happened since Promise had showed him the tea.

"Yes," Cedric said knowingly to Promise, answering two questions at once. "I think it's very good…" he reflected for two seconds about what he had just said. "Very well stirred." He said pointedly, trying to make what he had just said as seamless as possible, but failing horribly.

"That's good," Promise said, taking a sip of the tea. She winced and choked it down.

"Are you okay?" Calvin Parker asked.

"Yes," Promise choked, repulsed. "It just… needs more sugar, because I think I just had a stroke." She began to pour again as Cedric tried to hide his leg back into its locked position in the chair.

"Wouldn't the sugar cause that?" Calvin Parker asked her, slightly concerned.

"No. Now I need more sugar," Promise said stubbornly, like a child who didn't get exactly what she wanted.

"Maybe we should just get you a new tea," Calvin Parker offered.

"Ridiculous," Promise said, turning the sugar right side up and offering it to Cedric. "Cedric, perhaps you want some?"

"Hmmm? What?" Cedric asked, still trying to get his mind off of Cho playing footsie with him. "Oh! Yes. I'll have some sugar, that sounds good."

Promise spent a few seconds pouring liberal amounts into Cedric cup. "Calvin Parker? Would you like some too?"

He looked at her suspiciously. "Sure, why not? But this isn't something like a crazy, mind-altering potion, is it? I wouldn't like that very much."

"Nah," Promise said. "I don't know you well enough for that."

"Go for it," Calvin Parker said, letting her finish off the canister of sugar into his cup.

"Excellent," Promise said, levitating the now empty sugar canister back to the table of the kissing couple. She stirred her tea with her wand in what seemed like absentminded strokes. "So Calvin Parker, what do you think of the color orange. You know what I think."

"Well I pretty much agree with you," Calvin Parker nodded, setting his cup of tea down on the table, refraining from taking a drink. "The one thing you forgot to cite as an example are the Chudley Cannons. They're quite a force in the Quidditch world today. Their vibrant orange is quite the fashion statement, and the fans are rather rabid and perseveringly zealous when it comes to supporting their team, although it's safe to say they're quite possibly, and I mean this as nicely as possible, the worst team in modern day Quidditch. I don't know what it is, but it seems to me like they can't help but be terrible."

"I know what you mean," Promise said, looking at him understandingly, and placing her cup of tea a little too close to Cedric. Discreetly as he could, Cedric peered into Promise's cup.

_I really think I might like him. Use your sugar to write back._

_I can see why_, Cedric wrote back, waving his wand over his cup to spell the words, and placing his cup next to Promise's. Cho's foot snaked up to his knee and back down, slowly, sensually.

She picked hers up and took a fake sip as she looked into Cedric's.

"I'm a big Puddlemere United fan, myself," Calvin Parker said enthusiastically. "Some of the best Beaters in the contemporary Quidditch market, let me tell you!"

Promise stopped her wand mid-stroke to glare at him. "Puddlemere? You're a Pudder?! Seriously?"

"Navy blue pride!" Calvin Parker said proudly. "Unless… oh no. You're not a Harpy, are you?"

"Dark green pride," Promise said challengingly.

"Guess we can't be dating, can we?"

"I could never date a Pudder," Promise said, narrowing her eyes and resuming writing her note to Cedric.

"We could just make sure it never comes up in conversation again," Calvin Parker offered casually.

"Oh," Promise said, setting her cup very naturally right next to Cedric's. "So now you assume I actually want to date you."

"It's why you came," Calvin Parker said, taking a sip of tea and subsequently gagging as it went down.

_What is she doing with you?_

_Footsie._

Promise sighed as she looked into Cedric's cup casually, glared at an oblivious-to-anything-not-Cedric Cho Chang and rolled her eyes heavily. "You assume too much. Maybe I just like your company." She began to stir her tea again, eyeing Calvin Parker.

"So that must mean you're dating Cedric, and you have been ever since your first year at Hogwarts?" Calvin Parker asked. "You enjoy his company, so you must be dating him."

"That's different! I pick on him! And he's good with it! He likes it!"

"Wait a minute…" Cedric said, interrupting.

"Don't get in the middle of what I have to say," Promise snapped at him slamming her cup of tea down and spilling some onto their wooden table. She looked into the cup, huffed and then started her stir-spelling again. Cedric could only guess when she had slammed her cup down for Cedric to read, and had unintentionally dispersed her message in the process.

"So what would it take for me to date you?" Calvin Parker asked smugly.

"You really are persistent, aren't you?" Promise asked.

"Oh! So that's how I became Head Boy!" he said, as though just realizing how he had gotten the job.

"And how is that working out for you?" Promise asked, setting the cup down again, her new message completed.

"It's kind of overrated, actually. See you'd be surprised just how much being Head Boy is like being a Prefect. All it is is you're a liaison from the Prefects to Professor Dumbledore and vice versa. And even then I never talk to any more Prefects than I know or talk to regularly. For such a highly important sounding job, it sure is quite dull."

_So stop her!_

_How?_

Promise nodded, looking inconspicuously into Cedric's cup. Incensed, she glowered at him. "Are you kidding me?"

"No," Calvin Parker said, quite sure of himself, not looking at Promise. "I'm fairly certain I'm sure being Head Boy is a dull and overrated job."

Promise looked at him and smiled, slipping back into her conversation. "Sorry, I just have such a hard time thinking about the Head Boy job being so incredibly dull, especially when it seems to rule the life of someone so completely…" She smiled knowingly at Cedric. "Clueless." With very sharp movements, she picked up her cup and wand and began to stir-spell again. "Honestly, I don't even think he knows what the job entails. So you wouldn't recommend it to Pretty Boy, here?"

Cedric glared at her, trying to keep his mind off Cho Chang's foot, which was still managing to rub his leg even though his was finally hooked behind the chair leg.

"I'm not sure," Calvin Parker scratched his chin. "It's really got way more hype to it than it needs to have. Turns out you can still slack off as Head Boy and nothing'll happen. I mean, Percy Weasley kind of abused the power and, to him, being Head Boy meant being the pinnacle of everything Hogwarts had to offer. Really? Not everyone's like that. I prefer the Bill Weasley approach. I represent the casual caste of students, showing them I can get to the top without actually being… prissy."

"I was just saying that the other day, wasn't I, Ced?" Promise asked, putting the cup down again. "After the Yule Ball?"

"I came up after the Yule Ball?" Calvin Parker asked, in slight disbelief.

"You're really egotistical, aren't you" Promise asked, masking impressed with what she made sound like an insult.

_How? Just pull your foot away or tell her politely to stop it!_

"Well I know we didn't see Cedric during the Ball," Calvin Parker said slowly, explaining his reasoning. "And I doubt the concept of Head Boy comes up in every conversation you have…"

"You'd be surprised," Promise mused.

Cho's rubbing switched to the other leg, tickling slightly. Cedric looked over at Promise helplessly. She didn't look, so he picked up his tea and quickly waved a message.

_What should I do?_

"Whatever," Calvin Parker said, unimpressed. "I really doubt you do in fact talk about Head Boys in every single conversation."

"Huh," Promise said, looking up from Cedric's cup. She picked up her own and began to make another message. "Believe what you will. But go on. Let's see how egotistical you are."

"Which I'm not," Calvin Parker corrected her. "You see, then I can only assume that because of what happened that night," he looked at her very significantly. "You would have had your mind on what happened. You didn't get a chance to see Cedric, so I can only assume my name came up when you met up in the Common Room afterwards."

Cho began to slow down her movements, beginning to make them more sensual and deliberate on Cedric's leg.

"Maybe," Promise said, setting down the tea. "Any other proof?"

"Because I really do think you can't get your mind around how much I'm not who you thought I was," Calvin Parker smirked, so flirtatiously, it made Cedric finish with the conversation and look into Promise's cup.

_I told you what to do! But whatever. I don't care. I'm done with this thing with Cho, and so should you be._

Cedric felt Cho's other leg slink up his free one, so now both of her legs were rubbing both of his. He looked at his watch. Twelve fifteen, and there was no sign of Cho being able to let him go visit Sam. He couldn't explain to her that he had to go visit another girl. That was unthinkable. He wanted some alone time with Sam, and Cho clinging on him would make him feel awkward around her.

Slowly, he realized Cho had somehow snaked her hand onto his, her soft, beautiful skin making contact with his.

That was when something in him snapped. He didn't know quite what it was, but this feeling of lying to himself and Sam was unbearable. It wasn't fair to him, it wasn't fair to her, but perhaps most of all, it wasn't fair to Cho. She was under this impression that he really did like her a lot. She needed to be out spending time with guys who were worth her while, people like Harry Potter.

"Stop," he said softly.

Promise and Calvin Parker broke their silent gaze at each other and looked at him.

Cho's feet and hand stopped, but didn't pull away. "What?"

"I said… stop," Cedric said. It was easier to say the second time, once the first had come out and was official. "I can't do this anymore."

"What?" Cho asked softly, confused. Cedric looked at her and watched as her heart broke into a thousand separate pieces.

"Can we walk?" Cedric said, not wanting to talk to her in such a… romantic place.

"Sure," Cho said, suddenly afraid of him. She stood up quickly and briskly walked outside.

Cedric stood up slowly, suddenly not looking forward to what he now had to say outside. "Promise, can you…"

"Yeah," she said, suddenly the friend he knew her to be. "We'll take care of it."

"Thanks," Cedric sighed. "For everything."

"Sure, no problem," She nodded, caring her knew she felt for him breaking through her hardened emotional and cynical exterior.

Slowly, he walked outside, where the sun was shining and Cho stood in the middle of the deserted road. He walked up to her, not knowing exactly where to begin.

"What's up?" She asked, overly formal and businesslike.

"I…" _Come on, Ced, spit it out! Just say it and it'll all be over. _"I can't keep lying to you like this."

"Lying? Lying how?"

"This," he looked down at himself, arms stretched out loosely in front of him. "All of what I am… or have been to you for the past three months… It's all a lie."

"What do you mean?" She asked, sad, brokenhearted. Cedric knew that deep down she already knew what was coming.

"I don't like you that way," he said, somewhat awkwardly. "And if I did, I'd be all wrong for you."

"What do you mean?" She asked, blinking multiple times.

"I mean…" Cedric struggled with the words. "I mean I can't do… I can't… I don't know what's going on with us. We're not dating, because really, up until today we've never really dated. We've just been…" Cedric scrunched his face as he fumbled for the words. "Touchy, I guess. This whole affair is too… wrong. I don't like you the way you like me, and soon, very soon, I suspect, you'll realize you don't either. I don't know you, and you don't know me. We can't be much more than friends if that's the case, and even then we'd make for horrible friends, even worse a couple."

"But we've been so close for three months…"

"Not really," Cedric said, rubbing his neck. "It's just been walking. Other than the Yule Ball it's not been much of anything. Granted I did enjoy myself at the Yule Ball, but you're really not right for me."

"Is it someone else?"

"No," Cedric said, lying somewhat. Just because he liked Sam didn't mean anything would ever necessarily happen with them. "Not really."

"But you said yes to me for the dance!"

Cedric looked at the ground. "You asked me first. I care too much to say no to anyone who'd ask me."

"But… but you led me on!"

"I didn't mean to," Cedric said embarrassedly. "I just don't like to get in people's way, really. You seemed to be enjoying yourself, and I don't like to interfere with that, especially when it doesn't affect me that much."

"But we held hands and kissed!"

"Well we never really did kiss," Cedric said, now unable to make eye contact with anything that wasn't his shoes. "And the holding hands thing never really was a big deal to me. Just because we hold hands doesn't necessarily mean we're going steady."

"Oh," Cho said somewhat hopelessly. "I see."

They stood, staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes. "I know this is really cliché, but I think you do have some great ideas. So I still want to be on good terms with you."

Cho nodded, now looking at the ground, holding her left bicep with her right hand and rubbing it. "Me too. But before you go, I just want to say, I really do like you."

"I'm sorry," Cedric said sadly. "But I don't really feel the same way."

"Maybe someday you will," She said, smiling up at him.

"Maybe," he said, looking at her.

She took a few steps forward and gave him a huge hug. "I love you, Cedric."

"I love you too," he said, hugging her back. "But not that way."

Cho nodded, rubbed his back, released the hug, and wiped a tear from her eye with a finger. "See you round?"

"Count on it," Cedric nodded.

And Cho walked down the road slowly, typical spring in her step gone, but she didn't look quite as downtrodden as Cedric had expected her to.

Cedric stood there for another few minutes, thinking about what had just happened. He felt like he was some strange combination of elation and sorrow. When he had re-gathered his composure, he thought aloud.

"Maybe Sam will help."

Somehow his legs carried him all the way down the street to the Three Broomsticks, into the crowded pub, and to the seat next to where a girl was sitting, chin on the back of her hands, gazing at a mug of Butterbeer, looking, from the back at least, depressed.

"Didn't I ever tell you not to drink?"

She looked up and her face changed from one of mild depression to one of jubilation and glee. "It hasn't killed me yet. How are you?" She pulled him into those one-of-a-kind hugs. Sam hugs. It was one he hadn't had in… months.

"Good, actually," he said, believing exactly what he said. "Sorry I'm late. I had to talk to Cho Chang."

"Really? What happened?" She asked, looking, if possible, even more elated than she was before.

"It's not important," Cedric said, smiling. "What's going on with you?"

"I have a drinking problem, apparently," she said, holding up her half-full mug and empty bottle and waving them tauntingly. "Don't know how it happened, guess not talking to you really does things."

"Sorry about that," he said. "It's been really hard to get me time since the Yule Ball."

"I noticed," Sam said, half-smiling. "Anything new on the Champion front?"

"Not much," he said as Madame Rosmerta, noticing an unserviced customer sitting at the bar, walked up to him.

"What'll it be?"

"What she's having," Cedric said, looking at Sam, who took another sip of her Butterbeer. Madame Rosmerta gave him a clean mug and a corked bottle and set off to help other customers. He opened his bottle with a flick of his wand and poured it into his mug. "What about you? Anything new at all?"

"I broke up with Marcus," she said casually.

Cedric did his best to act surprised. "Really? What happened?"

"It was the Yule Ball," Sam said. "I asked him and we started… dating… I guess. If you can really call it that." Cedric looked at her quizzically, giving her a look to tell her to go on. "I don't know if you noticed, but we were… snogging all the time." He kept looking at her. "All right!" She said, misinterpreting his look. "We were really making out, there was very little snogging involved. And for a time, it was really good, cuz I mean, he's a good kisser. Granted, not as good a kisser as other people, I'd suspect." She took a long drink of Butterbeer. "But that was enough for a long time. And then the Yule Ball happened, and I realized, all he really wanted to do was make out and dance and do… not relationship things. I wanted to really talk and spend time with him… He wanted to kiss and spend time in a corner or a deserted classroom."

Cedric looked at her apprehensively. "You really scare me sometimes."

"Oh no!" Sam said insistently. "Don't get me wrong. He's a nice guy, a great guy, even! He just… didn't have his eyes on what was important to me. He didn't really understand what I was looking for."

"I meant about the deserted classroom," Cedric smiled.

"Right…" Sam said awkwardly. "That never really happened. He just kind of wanted to this one time and I told him no and he got kinda upset, but he was over it when I kissed him and made it feel better."

"I see," Cedric said. "When did you break up with him?"

"Right after the Second Task," she said casually.

"Any reason you did it then?" he asked, hoping for the egotistical, narcissistic answer bouncing around in his head.

"None that I can think of off the top of my head," she said, draining her glass and then looking at it, still not putting it down. "But that's not important. What's done is done. We're here now, in the present, and that's all we can do," she set down her glass, done with it. "I'm really glad you came."

"Me too," Cedric said, thinking not only about talking with Sam, but what it had taken to get him to talk to her.

She laughed and smiled. It was a strange smile, one of those completely contented smiles of happiness.

"What is it?" Cedric asked.

"It's nothing. I just missed you… and well," she laughed and looked at him, smile still present and unceasing. "I just… I just can't stop smiling."

Cedric smiled. Neither could he.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of these characters... But I own this spiffy dream sequence that's going to make you go "huh buh what?"... And yeah... I designed these people and this was the plan all along... so go yell at me if you must... but meh... No one's making you read this...

**Acknowledgement**: To the person who helped me muck my way through the last scene of the chapter. Without her help, I'd have NONE of the chemistry and it'd feel SO forced... You know who you are... so thank you... (That, and it really made the end of this chapter fly by cuz I didn't have to write it...)

* * *

**Chapter 16  
****Prophecies**

Cedric looked at his hands, palms facing away from him. He wiggled the fingers a few times, taking in the details of his fingers and joints and bumps and nails and cuticles. He flipped them over and gazed intently ay the lines and ridges. It always perplexed him when he thought of palmistry. Somehow divinators, albeit the best divinators, could determine which line meant exactly what. Professor McGonagall had always called it an imperfect magic, fraught with guess work and Cedric agreed to an extent. Much like with spell casting, there had to be at least some people in the magical community who could divine the future of others through distinct tickling sensations along the indentations and creases of one's palm.

Slowly, Cedric closed his hands, turning them into fists and looked up. Something told him he knew exactly where he was. The room itself, now that he noticed it, was hot, stifling and stuffy. It was strange that now that he thought about it and looked at all the foofy arm chairs and poufs strewn strategically around the room, the room had to be more aesthetically pleasing than anything. The chairs and poufs all were placed in semicircles in clumps of two and three around empty tables with colorful coverings all facing towards a fireplace, where there sat the most luxurious looking pouf of all. To his right was a window, but he didn't walk to it. He didn't want to. It wasn't something he needed to do, something he felt… led towards.

With the sound of someone, a child, young, giggling and running away, Cedric turned around as a trapdoor he had not noticed opened in the floor, and a magically collapsed ladder slunk down to the ground, landing with a soft thud on the ground below. With a final look around the mysterious room, Cedric walked to the ladder and climbed down it, not looking back.

When he reached the bottom of the ladder, he found himself at the end of a corridor that spiraled gently downward, the rest of the corridor blocked by the curving wall. Puzzled, Cedric turned around to face the ladder, wondering if maybe he could go back up, but behind him the ladder had already retracted into the ceiling, where the trapdoor closed with the sound of a faint, magical lock. Faced with no other options, Cedric shrugged and began to walk forward and into the unknown.

It was a long corridor, even as he took his first few steps into the winding hallway he knew it would take a long, long time for him to reach the end. It kept spiraling downward until, very abruptly, it seemed, he found himself in a straight corridor. It was strange how it had become so straight so fast. And so straight! Cedric turned around and found nothing but straight corridor behind him. It led off down a few doors, but eventually fell into blackness. Same with in front of him, too.

Trying to find his bearings, he looked to his left and saw a doorway. It was a familiar doorway, one he knew he had walked through a thousand times, but without the context of students or other landmarks along this hallway, Cedric wasn't able to guess accurately what was behind the door. He reached out his hand and turned the doorknob, door swinging inward.

Cedric had only a second to glimpse a large classroom, at the front of which, angled so that he could see, was a podium behind which was a tall stack of books with faint traces of dust and indentations left by footprints on the cover, when a giant pillow came flying straight at Cedric's face.

"Head's up!" someone's voice called.

Cedric had an instant to pull out his wand and make a blocking motion, casting a banishing spell that flung the pillow back in the direction it came from. He watched as it flew across the room and landed in the outstretched arms of the person who had flung it across the room. Whoever it was held their arms out straight, parallel to the ground, and the pillow in front of their face.

"That was close," the whoever it was said. "Almost nailed you."

"Almost," Cedric nodded. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Olivia brought the pillow down to a normal level. "Only if I know you'll get up again," she smiled. "If I had any idea you woulda blocked it so effectively, I wouldn't have shouted for you to catch it."

"Thanks," Cedric said. "I think… So what's up?"

"I throw pillows and then someone spells them back to me," Olivia said proudly.

"But who throws them back?" Cedric asked, looking around the nearly empty classroom.

Olivia frowned. "That's a good question. I hadn't thought about it until you walked in. But I throw them! And then someone does something and then we repeat!"

"But who's someone?" Cedric asked.

"Whoever walks through that door, I guess," Olivia shrugged. With another flick of her wand, she flung the pillow at him. Lazily, he banished it away and had just finished watching it soar out of his line of vision when another pillow came at his face, too fast for him to effectively duck, much less block. He tried to pull out of the path of the pillow, but it still came and smacked him across the face, sending him towards the ground in slow motion.

"Oh my goodness!" Olivia cried as she sprinted toward Cedric. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Cedric said, standing up, face not really hurting at all.

"Are you sure? That hit you pretty hard!" Olivia asked, rubbing his face to be sure.

"No, really," Cedric said, rather surprised himself. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Okay," Olivia said doubtingly. "I'll take your word for it, and I promise I won't send any more at you, kay?"

"That sounds like a plan," Cedric smiled.

"Excellent!" Olivia smiled as she waved her wand and levitated her pillows into a waist high stack, onto the half stack that was already there. "Sounds like a plan. No more pillows?" Olivia asked as she walked back to her position, next to the stack.

"Sounds like a plan," Cedric said.

Olivia nodded and reached her position again. She crouched slightly, arms far removed from her sides and curved parabolically about her waist, wand clenched tightly in her fist.

"What are you doing?" Cedric asked, confused at her peculiar behavior.

"Shhh," Olivia hushed him. "I'm waiting for someone to walk through that door."

"I don't think anyone will," Cedric said.

But she wasn't paying attention to him. She was too riveted on her task and what she was doing to pay attention to Cedric. Olivia got that way sometimes, focused so heavily on her task that she'd never focusing unless someone helped her finish it. With a shrug, Cedric walked to the office door at the far side of the classroom, turning around to look at Olivia, who still had not moved, eyes completely focused at the door, ready for anyone who walked through the door.

He closed his eyes and shook his head as he entered the office. With a sigh, he looked up and around to see where he was. Torches lined the wall, and when he turned around, he found that behind him, where the door had been was solid gray stone wall. Someway down the hallway was another door. Tentatively, not knowing what he'd find, Cedric walked towards it. With another twist and a push open, he opened the door.

It was another classroom, and thankfully no pillows came flying into his face. No, but there, sitting next to a very large cauldron on the professor's desk at the front of the classroom, facing away from him in her position sat Promise. She was giggle laughing, and Cedric knew why she was enjoying herself so much. Kissing her neck gingerly, tenderly was Calvin Parker. His arms were around her back and his eyes were closed as his lips made contact with her neck over and over again in different places.

Promise's head rolled back and she looked behind her. "Oh hi, Cedric!" She said pleasantly. "How are you?"

"Good, I guess," Cedric said, trying not to feel awkward that Calvin Parker was necking with his best friend.

Promise's eyes closed in ecstasy again, and that smile of pleasure filled her face until she snapped to. "Calvin Parker, Calvin Parker!" Promise said, swatting him away. "Hang on for a few minutes. We have a guest.

Calvin Parker stopped and looked up from Promise. "Oh! Sorry! My bad! Cedric, how are you?"

"Not as good as you, apparently," Cedric chuckled as he looked at the two of them, Promise sitting on the Professor's desk, Calvin Parker standing on the opposite side of her.

Calvin Parker looked at Promise. "But you couldn't be, now could you? Not if you're single and Sam's single."

"You told him?" Cedric asked Promise, completely confused.

"The whole school knows, Ced," Calvin Parker said, smiling, still focused intently on Promise.

"Awww," Promise said, speaking in baby-talk. "You figured that one out aww by youwsewf?"

"Anyfing for you," Calvin Parker said, now speaking back to her in baby talk.

"Awww," Promise said, genuinely, speaking normal and smiling. "I love you."

"I love you too," Calvin Parker said smiling one of those smiles that could only come from someone saying "I love you."

"We'll catch up later, Cedric?" Promise said, turning her head around just enough to see Cedric out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course," Cedric smiled.

"Okay. I'll see you later," Promise turned back to Calvin Parker and wrapped her arms around his neck. "How have you been?" she asked Calvin Parker. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Calvin Parker said.

"I love it when you say that," Promise smiled as she leaned in and kissed Calvin Parker on the lips. It was a long short kiss. Long enough for them to know they'd kissed, but not so much that it became more than anything but romantic.

Calvin Parker smiled as they pulled away. "I love it when you do that," he said as he leaned in and kissed her back.

Cedric didn't really have time to process things, but the sound of the child laughing echoed around the empty classroom. "Did you hear that?"

"It's just Cedric," Promise waved him off as she looked into Calvin Parker's eyes and began to rub noses with him.

Cedric scrunched his face in thought. He hadn't made that noise. Strange. Or what if the noise was in his head? Strange indeed.

Leaving Promise and Calvin Parker to their personal time, Cedric turned around and walked back out the classroom door and into the long torch lit hall again. He trekked for another long time until he reached a flight of stairs. Climbing these, he found, at the top, a doorway which was marked "The Future of the Department of Magical Cooperation." Curious as to what exactly lay behind the door, Cedric pushed it open.

It wasn't a pleasant room, the color was blue, and it felt stormy… without wind. The sneakoscope on a top shelf was broken, and the mirror near the door had many figures who were indiscernible in the mist present on the other side of the glass. Cedric looked forward and realized why the room had a blue tinge.

Dueling in front of him, in blue candlelight were a black cloud with red eyes and… Harry Potter. The red eyed black cloud moved side-to-side, dark edges distorting like unable-to-form vines, casting flicks and cracks of lightning at Harry who dodged expertly, doing his best to fling spells at the creature, but shooting nothing but green sparks. Cedric didn't know what Harry was trying to cast, but the more he flung spells, the more expertly he performed them. Within another few seconds, the sparks had progressed into little red tiny rockets, and then into short-lasting beams of golden light.

"Harry?" Cedric asked.

Harry flung another spell, which flung the cloud creature back a few feet, dazing and confusing it temporarily. "Cedric? Cedric! What are you doing in here! Get out before-"

Cedric could have sworn the cloud gave a very malicious grin at him as it shot out a bolt of green lightning, hitting Cedric square in the chest, shooting him backwards through the open door.

"Nooooo!!!" Harry screamed, holding out his hand for Cedric to grab onto as Cedric's vision faded to white, door slamming magically shut behind him.

The white slowly faded. Cedric felt a floor beneath him, looking up at the face of a boy, young, no older than the age of five looking down at him, much like a bird looking down at the ground, head cocked to one side.

"You're awake," the boy said proudly.

"Hello," Cedric said confusedly, pushing himself up onto his forearms as he rubbed a hand through his black hair, trying to snap himself back to life. "Do I know you?" The boy, whoever he was, seemed familiar, and Cedric couldn't explain why.

The boy just giggled and stood upright and began to walk down the line of desks towards a pig at the front of the classroom, which was standing where a desk should have been, looking mindless, lazy, and lethargic, as though it did not want to be a pig. It was opening and closing its mouth absentmindedly, like a cow chewing cud.

"You seem familiar," Cedric said, lifting himself to his feet.

"I would seem familiar, wouldn't I?" the boy asked, hopping effortlessly into a sitting position onto the pig, making the several foot jump seem relaxed, easy.

"Why?" Cedric asked, walking towards the boy.

The boy scratched his curly brown haired head, looking puzzled. "Because I'm Cedric."

Cedric looked at him, completely confused. "But, I'm Cedric." How peculiar. This boy didn't look like anything Cedric had seen of himself in his baby pictures. In fact, this boy bore no resemblance to him at all. His face was a different build, and his hair and eyes weren't anything like his own.

The boy shrugged, biting his inner lip. "Maybe we're both Cedric."

"Well it's not exactly a common name," Cedric said, perplexingly.

"It's a lot more common now, isn't it?" the boy asked, smiling.

He seemed so… familiar.

"Where did you come from?" Cedric asked him. "Are you me? But at a younger age?"

"Are you always so questiony?" the boy asked, mildly concerned, unphased that he had just used a made up word like "questiony."

"I'm just curious," Cedric shrugged. "Where did you come from?" he persisted.

"Where all little boys and girls come from," the boy said, explaining it in the most simplistic way he could. "From mommies and daddies."

"But who are your mommy and daddy?" Cedric asked, taking another step towards the boy.

But the boy ignored him. He stepped up onto the pig and turned around looking at the board, upon which was drawn the picture of a person and a bird, with an arrow pointing both ways between them. The boy turned around and smiled at Cedric. "I can do that! Wanna see?"

But Cedric didn't say anything, and instead just stared at the boy.

The boy shrugged again. "Oh well, I'll show you anyways. See you later!"

And with that, the boy transformed into a small yellow hummingbird, and buzzed out of the room.

"Wait!" Cedric called out, chasing the quick moving hummingbird through the corridors of the school, running, desperately wanting to discover the identity of the boy.

He rounded a corner and almost ran into Promise.

"Whoa!" she cried, shielding the yellow hummingbird that was perched beautifully on her left index finger with her right hand. "Slow down there, turbo."

"Hi Promise," Cedric huffed, putting his hands on his knees to better catch his breath. "How are you?

"Better now," Promise said smiling lovingly, parently, looking at the little yellow hummingbird on her finger and stroking the back of its head with the index finger of her opposite hand. After a minute, she frowned. "But not yet." With a loud snap of her fingers, the bird vanished, leaving no trace of itself at all. No claw marks on Promise's hand, no feathers floating mysteriously to the ground, no anything.

"What was that?" Cedric asked.

"Hmm?" Promise asked.

"That bird," Cedric asked. "What was that bird?"

"Bird?" Promise asked cluelessly.

Normally Cedric would have pushed her for the answer. Her answers typically came in such tones of ignorance, but this time was slightly different. Cedric knew that Promise had never mastered her ability to convey the ignorance effectively. She must not have remembered the bird, even though it was in her hand just seconds earlier.

"Never mind," Cedric said reluctantly. "So what are you doing here?"

"Walking," Promise said looking around. "Care to join me?"

"Of course," Cedric said, smiling as Promise began to walk again. He joined her, walking at a leisurely pace in a comfortable silence. He felt no need to say anything. He was just as comfortable not talking as talking, and there was no reason to overexert himself.

"What would I do without you?" Promise asked distantly.

"Flirt with Calvin Parker," Cedric said assuredly.

"Nah," Promise said, throwing her hands out in an effort to wave him off. "He's fun, but he's not you. There's only one you."

"And there's only one you," Cedric retorted.

"True-ché" Promise nodded. "So… when are you going to date her?"

"Soon, I hope," Cedric said abstractedly.

"About time," Promise said as they continued walking.

They walked in silence through the halls for another few minutes until Promise finally spoke her mind.

"Wanna go see her?" She asked with a devious smile.

"But I'm with you right now," Cedric said, perplexed that Promise would give up Cedric time.

"We'll always have Promise," Promise said brightly. "But we won't always have Sam. Wait until you realize she's a year behind you."

"Right," Cedric nodded, suddenly convinced. "Know where she is?"

"Where you're most comfortable, of course," Promise smiled and then thought to herself. "Or at least, tied for most comfortable."

"And where is that?" Cedric asked.

"Actually three way tied for most comfortable," Promise continued, starting to rant. "One's with me and the other's with her and then the other's an actual place. Like you know home is where the heart is? My home's wherever you are and your home's wherever I am or Sam is. The other is a specific location, which is funny because it's really the only specific-"

"Promise!" Cedric said sharply, cutting her off. "What's the place where I'm most comfortable?"

"Behind the badger," Promise smiled, stopping in front of him, turning, and holding out her hand to indicate the badger statue they had just stopped in front of.

"Oh," Cedric said, not having realized they had walked right to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"She's probably waiting for you," Promise smiled.

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric smiled, taking a step forward and kissing Promise on the forehead. "I love you."

"Hey, don't mention it," Promise said, smiling honestly. "What are best friends for? I'll tell you what: cuz I love you too. Have fun in there."

Cedric nodded and turned as the Badger jumped forward and bowed low to one side, sliding the wall apart. He looked back as the wall closed, Promise twiddling her fingers in farewell. Slowly, Cedric turned.

Just like Promise had predicted, there stood Sam, but she stood in her dress robes of not just pink, but a lovely shade of pink, not overly flashy and annoying, but cool and appealing, hands in long white gloves that went to her elbows, and her hair was in curls reminiscent of Promise. She had her back to him, looking at the mantle over the fireplace, arms crossed, and stamping her foot.

Cedric couldn't help himself. He exhaled a breath of "Wowwww" as he stared at her.

Sam turned around, apparently not realized what Cedric had said, and only having heard his gasp and exhalation of breath. "Oh, hi, Cedric," she said, and turned around quickly, not looking away from the fire.

"Good…" Cedric looked out of one of the Common Room windows to check what time it was. "Evening, Sam. How are you?"

"Awful!" She said, letting a dam of ranting and raving break within her. "I get all dressed up to go to this stupid ball and I'm standing down here freezing because goodness know for all the flair this dress has my arms get cold and all because my date doesn't even have the common sense to show up on time or tell me that he might possibly be late or anything courteous like that and now I'm having second thoughts about going and I have no idea what to do!"

"I'm sure he'll show up," Cedric suggested, shrugging.

"Yeah, right!" Sam said, beginning to pace back and forth across the room. "I mean, goodness knows he'd probably keep me guessing for a long time as to what the heck would be going on with him up there! You know it takes a tenth of the time for the guy to get ready as the girl? A tenth!"

"Really?-"

"Well maybe I'm exaggerating," Sam said, growing more and more agitated and exasperated. "But goodness knows if I'm on time the least he can do is make a fashionable entrance! Now the best he could do is a cameo! I bet we've already missed half of the dance!"

Cedric frowned slightly. "Maybe it's not about the dance…" he suggested.

Sam stopped suddenly. "What do you mean? Of course it's about the dance! I can't possibly be dressed up like this for nothing!"

Cedric thought about it for a second. "Well, really, I don't think it is. It's about having an excuse to hang out with your friends for hours on end with nothing but an excuse to get all dolled up and fancy looking for really no reason at all…"

Sam blushed. "You always put things so simply and make me feel so… me… Maybe I could go with you…"

"But I-" Cedric looked down, but found himself dressed in his own slate blue dress robes. "Guess I did dress up for the occasion."

"Mmmm," Sam said dreamily as somewhere music began to play, soft and gentle, perfect for dancing with her.

Slowly, Cedric walked forward and held out his hand as he approached her. Sam took his hand in her white-gloved ones and slid along them until his hand came to rest on her waist, and hers on his shoulder. Slowly, they repeated the process for the other hands until his hands had rested comfortably at her waist and hers were at his shoulders. Gently, soothingly, they began to sway side to side.

"I like this song," Cedric sighed as a shiver of excitement and ecstasy shot down his back.

"Me too," Sam said, as she pulled him in tighter and rested her head on his shoulder.

"We're going to miss the dance…" Cedric said apathetically.

"Huh," Sam said just as indifferently. "Well that wasn't expected…"

The continued rotating on the spot for a few minutes, content in each other's arms.

"Hey, Sam?" Cedric said after another few minutes.

"Yeah?" Sam said, pulling away enough to look up at him.

"I love you."

She looked at him and smirked slightly. "I love you more."

"Oh I doubt that," Cedric said, smiling at her somewhere between patronizing and caring.

Sam narrowed her eyes conspiratorially and looked at him, making sure she was looking at him straight on. "Prove it."

Cedric looked at her suspiciously then, licking his lips and biting his lower one in anticipation, slowly he leaned in, head tilting comfortably to one side. Slowly, when he was close enough, Sam tilted her head and brought her lips to join with his. Closer and closer they came. This was so surreal. His lips curled into a very faint smile as his lips just came into contact with hers and-

"Cedric!" someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Cedric!"

"Hmmm? What?" Cedric asked as he lifted his head off the still open Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"Cedric," Sam said, smiling at him as he looked at her. "You fell asleep."

"Oh," Cedric said, looking around at the empty common room. "What time is it?"

"Just after two," Sam said, consulting her watch. "I just finished up some Astronomy homework myself and I didn't realize you had fallen asleep until just now."

"Well this is embarrassing," Cedric said, feeling incredibly embarrassed that he had fallen asleep at the table while working with her.

"Did you finish what you were working on?" Sam asked.

Cedric reflected back to the dream he had just had and the final sensation just before Sam had woken him up. "I finished enough," he said.

"Well that's good," she said, still smiling at him and rubbing his back affectionately.

"That it is," Cedric nodded, yawning.

"Well…" she said reluctantly. "Good night."

"Good night," Cedric responded, wondering as she disappeared up the girl's dormitory stairs if she knew what she had just interrupted by waking him up. He smiled, reflecting on how much he enjoyed working with her for the past week, since Cho's leaving and their rendezvous at The Three Broomsticks.

With the closing of his textbook and the placing of it back in his bag, Cedric yawned, sighed, hauled his bag onto his back, and headed up the stairs to the boy's dormitory to get some real sleep, and by the time he had hit his bed, he had forgotten all but the last scene of his dream.

* * *

Not much of great consequence passed over the course of the next few weeks. True, Cedric was suddenly spending more time with Sam on top of Promise and Olivia, but really, it was very much… mellow and normal. Granted, nothing happened between Sam and Cedric, but really everything that happened was just… perfect. He wasn't sure when he was going to be able to talk freely with Sam, but with the absence of Cho Chang their conversations became longer, like they were before Cedric had become Triwizard Champion. 

And they didn't stop either. Cedric was sure they'd run out of things to talk about. To his elation and surprise, however, they didn't. The conversations stayed interesting and not awkward. Granted, they never talked about Calvin Parker or the Yule Ball or Cho Chang after that first meeting in The Three Broomsticks, but Cedric felt they had come to an unspoken mutual understanding about the events between the first task and the Yule Ball and nothing more needed to be said on the subject.

The classes intensified and Cedric kept coming back to the ideas of Cyclical Arithmancy. The chaos of being without Promise rectified itself in time, just like the chaos of Sam rectified itself in the end. Strangely, though, Olivia hadn't slipped into chaos when it came to Cedric, an irony not lost on anyone, least of all Promise.

"Honestly," Promise said one morning at the beginning of April at the breakfast table, not looking up from her copy of _The Daily Prophet_. "I think it's just because you're boring."

"Excuse me!" Olivia said. "I'm not boring!"

"According to Cyclical Arithmancy you are," Promise said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice, still not taking her eyes off the story.

"What's Cyclical Arithmancy?" Sam asked.

Promise put down the paper and looked at her, bored with the subject. "Pass your O.W.L. and then take it next year. You'll not only eat in Professor Vector's class, but you'll also learn some pretty insane Arithmancy."

"Sounds exciting," Olivia said, smirking and nodding affirmatively.

"It really is," Cedric said.

"But then again," Promise said, lowering her voice conspiratorily, in such a way that Cedric knew that what had to come next was an insult. "Cedric actually likes to learn."

Cedric pursed his lips and turned back to his toast, not getting involved in Promise's conversation anymore.

* * *

Slowly, the gray days of April began to shed away some of the shade of gloom and overcast, leading to many study sessions for Sam and Olivia, who were consciously aware that they were rushing towards their O.W.L.'s. 

Promise, being Promise, was also slightly frustrated that Cedric was not only studying when he was exempted from end-of-year exams, but he was actually outstudying her and the majority of most of the other students in Hufflepuff.

"Hermione Granger's the one who has the rabid study habits," Promise said. "Not you. Why can't you just be normal for once?"

Cedric looked up from his Potions textbook. "The world's not going to wait up for me. You're going to be tested on this, I'm not. I need to make sure I know it."

"How does that makes sense?" Olivia asked, setting down her quill from a particularly nasty History of Magic essay and rubbing her face in a vain attempt to reinvigorate her senses.

"Well Promise is going to find out how much she knows what she has to on exam day. Me? I won't have that luxury. I have to sit and twiddle my thumbs and hope the Triwizard Tournament doesn't kill me," Cedric shrugged matter-of-factly.

Sam looked up, concerned. "It won't kill you, will it?"

"Nah," Cedric said, disbelievingly. "Maybe a few cuts and bruises, some screams of pain. But I'll come out of that maze unscathed."

"You better," Promise said threateningly. "Because if you don't I'll kill you… But explain better why you need to study like a rabid Hermione Granger…"

"Because I need to make sure you don't get ahead of me for next year," Cedric explained. "If something in the curriculum slips past me I'm totally messed up next year because I have to go in and relearn it on top of all my other classes."

"You're so damn noble," Promise said enviously. "If I were you I would totally be skiving off all my classes and studying and be flying around the grounds all day on my broom. Forget about classes! I'd just be zoom outta here getting practical experience for the real world."

"And that's the difference between you and me," Cedric smiled. "You have no discipline."

"I do so…" Promise said. "In fact I… Erm…"

Cedric, Olivia, and Sam all stared at her, on the verge of being incredibly dumbfounded.

"Did he actually find an insult you couldn't retort to?" Sam asked, slightly in shock.

Promise frowned. "It had to happen sooner or later," she shrugged.

"But he still beat you," Olivia said.

"Once," Promise retorted insistently. "He did it one time."

"Sometimes," Sam said, looking at Cedric who had turned back to his potions work. "One is all you need."

* * *

He kept very close to Sam, Olivia, and Promise. True, he couldn't help it if a crowed crowded around him every so often, but with them all around him for the first time in months, and with the general disappointment with the second task, people had, in a way, almost lost interest in the Triwizard Tournament. 

One exception, of course, was Fleur Delcaour, who would pull Cedric aside and talk every so often. She had changed since the second task, and seemed so much less… superficial than how she was before. Maybe it was because Cedric knew her better or because Harry Potter had proved her wrong, but every so often she would join their group for a time (much to the dismay of Sam, Promise, and Olivia) and discuss various topics with Cedric, occasionally asking the other three of their opinions, but typically very oblivious to the world around her.

The exception to this, however, was the conversation sometime at the very beginning of May with the idea that the final task was approaching.

"I wonder what it eez," Fleur said musingly as she skipped a rock across the lake during one of the walks they took when Sam and Olivia wanted a particularly long studying break.

Cedric shrugged. "Could be anything."

"Well you have to remember that the Triwizard Champion is a hero," Promise said remindingly, suddenly fully engaged in the conversation now it had rolled around to the Third Task.

"So?" Olivia asked as Sam copied Fleur by picking up a rock and skipping it across the lake.

"So that means the Champions have to undergo the tests heroes go through," Promise explained. "They have to face the unknown. That was the dragon. Rescue the 'princess,' or captive as was the case with you, Fleur. That only leaves some sort of quest."

"Aren't all those the same phase of the journey?" Sam asked, slightly confused at Promise's somewhat repetitive explanation.

"Shut up!" Promise hissed.

"Oooo," Fleur considered, like usual not paying much attention to Sam's comments. "Zhat'll be eenteresting.

"So, Promise, what do you think it is?" Cedric asked.

"It'll probably be all three," Fleur said. "Maybe we'll 'ave to search for somezing… like zhe unknown. We've already been underwater, and an-in-zhe-air quest would be dull. Zhey won't want to repeat anozher dull task. Maybe we'll 'ave to go underground."

"But what'll we search for?" Cedric asked.

"Treasure?" Fleur shrugged.

"Sounds like a plan," Promise rolled her eyes and continued leading them around the lake.

What Cedric didn't understand was Promise's attitude toward Fleur. Why was she so patronizing towards her? Fleur wasn't as bad as other people. He turned around and looked at Sam who looked alone and depressed. She looked up at him and smiled, depression gone as quickly as it had probably gone. With a slight effort, she looked away and skipped a stone across the water, Fleur copying her a few seconds later.

* * *

Before Cedric could realize it, the last week of May had arrived, and during Herbology Professor Sprout came to talk to him, pulling him out of the blistering sun for a few minutes to talk to him. 

"Mr. Diggory," Professor Sprout said, handing him a cup of pumpkin juice that was sitting on a shady table for the students who had begun to dehydrate. "The Third Task is exactly one month from today. Are you ready?"

"I don't believe so, Professor," Cedric said, smiling rather sheepishly and taking a sip of the cool and refreshing pumpkin juice. "They said they'd tell us today, but I haven't heard any word on what I'm to do to find out. I haven't gotten and owl or anything."

Professor Sprout smiled affectionately and proudly. "Then I have good news for you, Mr. Diggory. You are to head out to the Quidditch field at nine o'clock tonight, where Mr. Bagman will inform you on the details of the Third Task."

Cedric eyes her suspiciously, yet teasingly. "You know what the Third Task is, Professor?"

Professor Sprout grinned. "If I did know what it is, then I would tell you that it will be the most exciting task of the three."

"So you do know?" Cedric asked, still eyeing her.

"Couldn't say," Professor Sprout said wistfully. "Now, back to work, Mr. Diggory."

The prospect of finding out the third task, and what the final of the Triwizard Tournament would entail kept Cedric wired all through the rest of the day, so much so that he completely forgot to tell Promise, Sam, and Olivia until lunchtime.

"Or you could not tell us why you're giddy," Promise said loudly, brow furrowed, glaring at Cedric, not touching her food.

"Hmm?" Cedric asked, looking to her after scanning the hall for the twenty seventh time. "What'd you say?"

Sam and Olivia giggled slightly.

"This is the third time I've asked you why you can't focus on anything and you're so… chipper," Promise said, slightly aggravated at Cedric's head in the clouds.

"Oh," Cedric said. "Didn't I tell you?"

"No, actually," Promise said, dubiously. "I've actually been next to you since you came back from Herbology and you haven't been able to focus on anything for longer than about half a second."

"Really?" Cedric asked.

"Oh, Promise," Olivia chuckled prematurely, expectantly. "What did you do to him?"

"I actually turned your Transfiguration textbook upside down, and you didn't notice," Promise said, amused.

Cedric couldn't help but laugh at himself. "How long was I out?"

"One class period," Sam shrugged, smiling. "So, Cedric. Why have you been so out of it?"

"I find out what the Third Task is, tonight," Cedric said rather anticlimactically.

"Took them long enough," Promise said, looking down at her food, still not hungry for some bizarre reason.

Try as he might, Cedric wasn't able to focus on much. He ate nothing at lunch and couldn't remember doing anything in either Potions or Arithmancy, which was strange, because Potions always required some semblance of physical presence and Arithmancy always captured his attention. Next thing he knew, he was sitting at the dinner table with Promise, still not eating, much like her.

"You all right?" Olivia asked them, concerned more about Promise's strangely absent ravenous appetite.

"Yeah," Promise said, unsurely. "I just feel a little queasy is all. What about you, Ced?"

"Now that you mention it," Cedric said, placing one hand on his stomach. "I kind of feel it too. Must be pre discovery jitters, eh?"

"Yeah," Promise said, but the way she said it didn't make Cedric believe her at all.

He forgot about it within the next few hours, and by the time he had walked out of the Hufflepuff corridor into the Entrance Hall at eight forty, it was almost out of his mind, Harry Potter pushing it completely out with his descent down the marble staircase. Cedric wondered for a moment if Harry still hated him for taking Cho Chang to the Ball. He should tell him that Cho was "up for grabs" and anyone who wanted to could date her.

"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" Cedric asked. "Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure."

"That wouldn't be too bad," Harry said somewhat enthusiastically.

Cedric could tell Harry wasn't in much of a mood for discussion about much of anything and so he kept quiet until they reached the Quidditch field, turning down a gap in the stands and coming face to face with what looked like long, low walls that met in corners and angles all over the long Quidditch field. It was enough to stop Cedric dead in his tracks.

"What've they done to it!" he exclaimed.

"They're hedges!" Harry said, kneeling down and examining the nearest section of low wall.

"Hello there!" Ludo Bagman called out, standing in the middle of the field with Fleur and Krum.

"Well what d'you think?" Bagman asked happily as Harry and Cedric climbed over the last hedge. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry."

Cedric was still disgusted that the beautiful Quidditch field had been transformed into such an… aberration from normal. This must've showed on his face because Bagman kept smiling, looking right at him and Harry.

"Don't worry. You'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

There was a silence, Cedric unable to keep his mind on anything except the awful condition of the stately Quidditch field.

"Maze," grunted the deep voice of Krum.

_Interesting._

"That's right!" Bagman said. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" Fleur asked.

She had a point, no way it was just that easy.

"There will be obstacles," Bagman said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures… then there will be spells that must be broken… all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze. Then Mr. Krum will enter… then Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how ell you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

Did Bagman say Hagrid was providing the creatures? Cedric needed to practice.

"Very well… if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly…"

Cedric didn't know what Bagman was talking about. It was a fairly moderate evening, not cold at all. Harry and Bagman led the way out of the way, followed by Krum, who tapped Harry on the shoulder and led him away. Cedric walked back to the castle alone and to the Common Room, telling Promise and Sam and Olivia what he had just found out.

Promise looked up at him, looking lively. "I'm hungry all of a sudden. I haven't eaten all day."

"What happened to feeling nauseous?" Olivia asked.

"It's gone miraculously," Promise said. "You too, Ced?"

"Yeah," Cedric said. His nausea was miraculously gone, and he had no idea why. Now that it was gone, however, he needed something to eat, and that meant a kitchen run.

They could start training tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt anyone.

* * *

The next day, a violent rumor spread around campus about Harry Potter and Victor Krum being viciously attacked by Barty Crouch, who had disappeared. 

Cedric didn't have any time to worry about it though. They had begun to train in every spare block of time in an empty classroom on the second floor. Promise always brought food with her, or at least, somehow she managed to get it delivered to her, although two weeks into the arrangement, Promise confided in him that she had convinced Sweenty to bring them several platters of food every break and lunch and dinner.

Sam and Olivia sat in on all the sessions, helping to work on some of the practical Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms elements, but for the most part studying for their O.W.L.'s, leaving Cedric and Promise to their own devices of training.

"Where do you get so much time to practice?" Cedric asked. "Shouldn't you be studying for exams?"

"Don't worry," Promise said, flicking her wand and bringing a pillow to her hands. "I have a first grader studying for me and making summaries I just need to memorize."

"Promise!" Sam looked up in complete disbelief that Promise would do something like that.

"What?" She asked indignantly. "I'm paying him!"

"That doesn't make it right!" Olivia said, joining the conversation.

"Man you guys take the fun out of everything," Promise sighed. "I actually study and stay up late at night."

"How late?" Cedric asked, suddenly concerned.

"Four," Promise said casually.

"No, seriously," Olivia said unjokingly.

"See, this is one of the very few downsides of being such a funny person," Promise sighed. "Because people never believe you when you make an outlandish claim."

"You go to bed at four?" Sam asked, shutting her textbook.

"Fine, three thirty!" Promise said. "Four one or twice a week and three once before, but mostly three thirty."

"That's less than four hours of sleep!" Cedric said, shocked.

"What's your point?" Promise asked, unperturbed.

"That's not healthy!" Olivia exclaimed.

"I'll live," Promise said, shrugging. "Besides, this is far more important than my classes. If Cedric wins, he'll have enough money to buy us both all of our N.E.W.T.'s and a really nice house."

"But not like your parents'," Cedric corrected her.

"I'd hate that," Promise said bitterly. "That house is so… that house."

"Well I don't feel good about keeping you up till four in the morning, Promise," Cedric said, troubled.

"It's three thirty and it doesn't show," Promise paused for a minute and then grabbed her face anxiously. "Oh my God! It doesn't show, does it?"

Cedric laughed and shook his head, prepared for the next pillow she flung at him.

* * *

"Ready?" Olivia asked with about two weeks left until the Third Task. 

"Yep!" Cedric said, standing poised.

Olivia hunched over slightly, standing in a ready position, thick red pillow tied to her wand by a relatively short invisible string, suspended several inches above the ground. Her arms were out to her sides, parabolically in a ready position.

Cedric chanced a glance over to Sam, whose turn it was to check their Arithmancy homework and Promise, who was watching excitedly, taking a huge bite out of a thick sandwich.

With no warning, Olivia used her wand to fling one pillow at Cedric.

"_Impedimenta_!" he shouted, freezing the pillow in mid air.

What happened next, he never fully knew, but he saw the red pillow suspended in midair, something big and red collided with it and hit him across the face, sending him flying backward.

He must've blacked out for a second, because Sam, Promise, and Olivia were all kneeling over him, slapping him to consciousness.

"Hmm what?" Cedric asked, eyes fluttering open.

"God! Don't scare me like that," Promise said, slapping Cedric on the chest.

"Sorry! What happened?" Cedric asked, half-dazed.

"You failed at life," Promise complained. She hit him again, eliciting an "ow!" from Cedric. "That's what you get for not being more careful!"

"What'd I do?" Cedric asked.

"You weren't ready for Olivia's two pillows," Sam explained.

"You never said we were doing two pillows," Cedric said, turning to Olivia.

"Guess you suck at surprises," Olivia smirked grimly.

"If you do it again, I'll be ready," Cedric groaned as he sat up straight, rubbing the large lump on the back of his head. "That was good though. Where'd you get that arm?"

"Quidditch," Sam answered before Olivia could. "Where else?"

* * *

Not wanting to hurt her in the process of the training process, Cedric had done his best to limit practice with Sam. She never said anything about it, but he was sure she noticed. There was nothing he could do about it, though. Their O.W.L.'s lasted the last two weeks of his training and they needed to focus on last minute studying throughout the entire process. This gave Promise and Cedric more than enough time to practice together. They never talked about Promise staying up late, and whenever they did, Promise would challenge him to a duel, which he invariably gladly accepted. Being Promise, however, she always made an bizarre challenge, like in the Great Hall during the next morning's breakfast on the Slytherin table. 

By the time the History of Magic O.W.L. came and went, Cedric felt he had all the spells he had practiced down as best he could have them. He had practiced disarmament, freezing, summoning, banishing, an advanced light barrier charm, stunning, and several assorted jinxes and hexes Promise said would come in handy.

"Well if you kids'll excuse me," Promise said, yawning loudly. "I have Arithmancy tomorrow and I'd like to do really well on that to show up Professor Vector."

"And I think I'll hit the sack early too," Olivia said, yawning as well. "Sam, you wanna stay and help out Cedric?"

Sam and Cedric looked at each other, masking a mutual discomfort.

"I guess," Sam said, incredibly unsure of herself as she turned to Cedric. "Unless you mind. Cedric, you don't mind?"

"No! Not at all," Cedric said, far too loud.

"Excellent," Promise said, clapping her hands together and rubbing them vigorously, creating heat between her palms. "Then we'll leave you to it."

"Night, Promise!" Cedric called out sarcastically as she scooted with Olivia out of the empty classroom, leaving Cedric alone with Sam. He smiled knowingly as Sam examined a row of books on the dusty bookshelves. He knew exactly what Promise was doing. Oh yes, he knew. But there'd be time for this later. For now he'd just... talk... He looked at Sam and smiled warmly. "So..." He said awkwardly, swinging his hands out to his side and then to his front, clapping, still awkwardly. "How are you?"

Sam turned to face him. "Worried about you." she laughed playfully, even though the worried look persisted in her eyes. She returned her gaze to the books upon the dusty shelf. "Are you nervous?' she asked.

"A little," Cedric smiled back, awkwardly. "But at least I've done all I can do. Weeks of practice and preparation for who knows what in the maze. You helping. Promise falling from curses. Olivia falling from more curses. You not falling from curses..." His voice trailed off. No. He hadn't cursed her. He couldn't bring himself to it. It was too... wrong?

Sam laughed softly and looked at him from over her shoulder, hair falling… perfectly. "You're going to do great, Ced. Everyone's rooting for you. You're the smartest in your year." She smiled, but nervously and turned around, fingertips trailing ever so gently along the spine of a book Cedric could not see, reading the title before moving to the next one.

"But what about... Krum? Or Harry Potter?" Cedric said, rather flustered by what Sam had claimed. "They're so much more... heroic than I am. I'm just... the one everyone turns to because they can. I'm just a normal guy, trying to go through this insane tournament. I don't stand a chance against these people. You saw what Krum and Harry did to the dragon! What did I do? I got though it because you told me what to do. You're the real hero of that one." He chuckled slightly to himself. _That was embarrassing..._

"You're far smarted than you give yourself credit for Ced," Sam laughed softly, modestly. "You handled that pressure just as well as Harry or Krum. You know what you're doing. Don't worry too much. That's why you keep me around."

"So I don't get lit on fire?" Cedric asked, going for humor, thinking it wouldn't work.

Sam, thankfully, laughed at his joke. It was a genuine laugh, one Cedric knew she meant. She turned around and looked at him, smiling, weight shifted to her left foot more than the other. "No! To worry for you!"

"Oh," Cedric said, looking down and away, blushing slightly. "Well if you're worrying for me, who am I supposed to worry for?"

"You can't worry! You have to keep your head in the tournament." She took a few steps towards him, close enough to rub his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'm trying," Cedric said softly, smiling. "It's just... like the dragon, but I have no idea what they put in that maze. What if they put another dragon because we've all already taken one down? What if that happens? I haven't been practicing my transfiguration."

"Cedric, you'll do amazing," Sam said. "There's nothing in that maze you cant handle. You just have to believe in yourself as much as the rest of us believe in you." She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but as she lifted her head to meet him eyes, Cedric saw she was blushing. Quickly, she turned and walked away, resurveying the books.

An image shot across Cedric's eyes as she looked at him and then looked away. _No. That wouldn't happen. Not here, not now._ "I know, but I don't think I'll win. It's just exhilarating for me to be with all the very talented wizards and that witch." He paused for a minute. "Wait... that came out wrong... She's ummmm... Actually... I have no idea what I'm trying to say." He blushed and turned away as well.

"She's a talented witch, that Fleur," Sam said, seemingly ignoring Cedric's last statement.

"That she is," Cedric said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Remember what happened to her during the second task? It's a shame, really. She didn't deserve that. If only she had known how to survive a Grindylow attack…"

Sam nodded silently, suddenly blanketing the room in an incredibly awkward and very audible silence. "So, any spells, jinxes, curses, or hexes you want to practice before tomorrow?"

Cedric frowned. He didn't want to practice with her. Not now, not with no one else... Who knew what'd happen... He rubbed his neck anxiously. "I dunno. I mean, we did practice everything we could so far." He chuckled slightly. "I mean, what else have we been doing for the past two hours?" He check his watch. _Two hours? That was it?_

"Well then," Sam said, pausing in thought. "Do you want to go back to the common room?"

Cedric's heart drooped like a wilting flower. Did she really want to go back to the Common Room? Is that what she really wanted? He hesitated in thought. _Yes._ He pleaded with himself. _Yes. End this awkwardness and bring it back to just... fun._ But another voice in his head spoke, one of... intuition and soothing softness. _But when was the last time you were alone with Sam? Early March? Just after that thing with Cho? Has it really been that long, Ced? Stay, for a few minutes. Awkward and Sam go hand in hand like Promise and... more Promise. _The other voice in his head sighed. _Fine. But we're not pushing her into something she doesn't want to do._

"I dunno," Cedric said, letting some of the frustrating conflict bubbling in his head pop onto the surface for an instant. "What would you like to do?"

She turned to face him and smiled, making a rare eye contact. "Being here with you is enough for me."

"So we'll stay here, then," Cedric said somewhat brightly as they locked eyes. Somewhere, he lost track of time for a minute until he realized exactly where he was staring and turned away abruptly. "Staring at each other," he tried to recover, still awkwardly.

"Staring's fine with me," Sam said, trying her best to sound as unawkward as she could. "You have nice eyes."

"Thanks," Cedric said, taking it at more than the face value he was sure she meant it at. "I like your eyes too."

The voice in his head came back again._ Triwizard Champion. Triwizard Champion and that's the best you can do? "I like your eyes too?" Could you say anything stupider? Or more stupid? Wow. She even takes my breath away, and I have mind breath. I can't even think properly Thanks a lot._

Sam giggled slightly, but not in the traditional girly way, in a more mature, embarrassed sort of way. "Must be a trait among Hufflepuffs; loyalty and nice eyes. So, are you doing anything... erm, fun over the summer?"

Cedric thought for a minute. "I hadn't really thought about it. This tournament's consumed all my time. But not really, I guess." He shrugged. "I think I'm going to play some Quidditch, I've been dying to all year and I haven't really gotten a chance. Maybe I'll get a makeshift team with you and Olivia and Promise and we could challenge other 'club' teams like us. Hang with you and Promise, probably get Promise out of her house so she doesn't have to stay there anymore. She really does deserve better, the best even, especially after everything we've been through, all the years, you know?"

She nodded in agreement, but her eyes had sort of glazed over, like she had lost touch with reality for some reason.

"Sam?" Cedric asked, concerned. "Are you alright? You look sort of… dreamy."

She snapped out of it in an instant. "Yeah, sorry. My mind was wandering." She turned around to face the bookshelf, head lowered ever so slightly.

"Wandering where?" Cedric asked, curious. "Was it someplace far off? I'll go, anything to take my mind off this ruddy task tomorrow."

"I'm not sure you'd like it there," she said, voice inflecting in such a way Cedric could tell she was smiling even though he couldn't see her face.

Cedric blushed, a bit of Seeker and Champion daring slipping into his thought process. He smiled and let his tongue just barely dart out, grazing his lips. "Try me."

She turned around cautiously and took a step forward, smiling innocently. "I can tell you that it's not very far."

"Where? Off with Marcus in Promise's corner of the Common Room?" Cedric teased.

Sam blushed, breaking eye contact. "I think its a little bit better than that."

"Really?" Cedric said. "You seemed to have a fun time together. What really did happen between you? Why'd you break up with him when you did?"

"Its... complicated"

"Ah," Cedric said, easing away from the apparently awkward topic. "My bad. I'll drop it if you want." He walked past her, avoiding eye contact, and went to the book shelf, where he began to examine the spines of the books he had looked at a thousand times while waiting for a successful stunning or freezing spell to wear off of Promise or Olivia. _Way to go, Ced,_ he thought to himself. _Way to push her too far._

Soft footsteps walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Sam said nothing, though. He hand dropped somewhat lazily off his shoulder, brushing by his hand as she took it away from him.

That brush, however fleeting, however, felt amazing. It was so perfect, smooth, graceful, and warm. How he wanted to just reach out and touch her! Just once! Just one tiny handhold and he'd never ask for another thing again. Not one other thing! Why couldn't he just... But no. She wouldn't like it. They were just having an awkward conversation, for no readily awkward reason. No need to ruin their friendship on a single desire.

"Ced," Sam said quietly, voice soft as she took a few steps away from him. "Ced, have you ever wanted to do something, but been afraid to do it?"

_Oh if only you knew,__ he thought._ "Every day of my life," he smiled grimly, turning to face her even though her back was to him. "There just seems to be something every day. Dunno why. Guess it's part of the curse of being a Hufflepuff." He laughed slightly. _Bad joke. Bad joke. Why was it always with the bad jokes at bad, awkward moments?_

"I know that feeling," her voice came out as a whisper as she turned and took a step towards him.

Cedric took a step towards her as well. "The feeling that life just seems to… walk over you sometimes?"

"It's definitely something like that," she said, smiling and nodding, taking another step towards him.

Cedric smiled, unaware that his hand had absentmindedly reached forward in the less-than-one-more-step gap between them. "Guess we have something new in common."

Their hands met as Sam smiled faintly. "Guess so…"

"Something," Cedric said vaguely, losing track of reality as his other hand slipped into hers so that now both their hands were in each others. "Something..." His voice trailed off as he began to lean forward slightly, not exactly realizing what he was doing...

He pulled in closer. What was he doing! This was crazy! She was... she was so pretty... so... perfect... so... his everything. He leaned in so their lips almost touched. Just another instant and-

"SORRY!!!!" Promise's voice came from around the corner, making the two break away in an instant as she bounded into the room. "Forgot my book!" She stopped as she saw them looking away from each other awkwardly, standing on opposite ends of the classroom.

_Promise. Why did it always have to be Promise?_

"Oh," Promise said, incredibly put out. "I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"

"Er... I'm not sure," Cedric said, suddenly planted firmly in reality, dream vanished from his head in a puff of smoke.

"Bad timing?" Promise asked semi-sarcastically.

"Yeah," Cedric said just as awkwardly as before.

"Shoulda come back later?"

"Yeah."

"My bad." And without another word, Promise exited the room quickly, not looking back, but inwardly cheering at what she had just almost walked in on.

"So..." Cedric said after a few seconds, still unable to look at Sam, entirely incensed that Promise had just broken their almost kiss, and intentionally to boot. "Hi," Cedric said weakly, timidly not exactly moving... Not knowing how to move really... Terrified at the thought of what had just almost happened. Did they really just- "Promise has bad timing," he said, chuckling slightly and pointing with his thumb over his shoulder at the door where Promise had just exited.

Sam laughed slightly. "That she does... but it doesn't mean we can't..." she hesitated. "Pick up where we left off..."

Cedric tripped for a second even though he really hadn't moved at all. "You… you really want to?"

She just looked at him, making eye contact, firm, not awkward.

In a moment of bravery, he took a tentative step forward. Unsure exactly how to proceed. The moment before had been so... perfect...

The began an unspoken game, each taking a step forward silently, turns and pauses between steps. Sam took a step, he took a step… Before he knew it, he was standing directly in front of her, any closer and they'd touch.

Slowly, she reached forward and he let her hand trace the outline of his face.

The feeling of warmth and smooth skin traced over Cedric's face, and he smiled in ecstasy. The thought of... How long? As long as Promise had said? All that time? Really?

Mimicking her moves, he brought his hand to her face and, with the back of his index finger, traced a lone, long, thin strand of hair out of her face and to one side. He let the hair trickle to his fingers as he let his middle finger just barely skim the skin that lined her cheekbone.

Sam smiled at the feel of his touch and leaned into his hand a little, giving him permission to come closer.

With a thumb, Cedric used the edge to gently touch a curve underneath Sam's eye and he took a step closer. The hand fell further down and landed somewhere on the nape of her neck, beneath her hair, her beautiful, perfect, silky sandy blonde hair.

"Cedric," she breathed.

Slowly, Cedric looked at her, she looked at him. He couldn't help it, he cracked a smile. "Sam."

He looked at her lips, then back to her eyes. He licked them once and bit the lower one longingly with his upper teeth, wanting nothing more than to escape the waiting, a year of waiting. Slowly, ever so slowly, savoringly, he leaned in, tilting his head to one side, lips preparatorily pressed together, ready to separate at a moment's notice.

As she noticed him lean in she came closer to him, ever so slowly.

Cedric came in closer, just an instant away from her and stopped, eyes closed in exhilaration and excitement. "I love you," he whispered, ever so slightly, lips so close to hers they would have met if he had moved any closer...

"I love you too," Sam whispered back.

Slowly, even slower than before, Cedric leaned in and made contact with Sam's lips, instantly melting him into the metaphorical puddle of goo. She tasted... sweet, beautiful, as though every wonderful taste Cedric had ever come across had been blended into a single, solidified taste of harmony and perfection. He was kissing her! He was kissing Samantha Bennett!

And somewhere on the grounds, a clock chimed ten times.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or Cedric Diggory or the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament. If you've read this far, you know what I own and what I don't...

* * *

**Chapter 17  
Life**

Blackness.

There wasn't a word to describe the feeling of blackness, how it smelled, how it made the pores of skin feel, how it tasted.

The only thing Cedric knew about blackness was how it looked: empty, dark, foreboding. It surrounded him every time he closed his eyes or blew out the lights, but never had he been so enveloped like this. The blackness surrounded him, invading him in more than just his eyes.

And to have it happen walking through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters was… strange. The sensation took him completely by surprise.

His parents had told him to go through alone. His father went through first, and his mother would go after him, but through the invisible barrier… he had to do that alone. Not only that, but his father had told him to be brave, going through eyes open, courageous in the face of the unknown.

And no sooner had he realized the world had gone dark than his vision turned stark white, pupils contracting to take in the sudden burst of light. He looked around quickly to the many witches and wizards, from parents to Hogwarts students, ranging from first to seventh years, and then to the red train, the scarlet red train that would take him to Hogwarts for the first time.

"See?" His father said, eyes twinkling as he joined Cedric, coming from a position a few feet away, carrying Cedric's trunk. "That wasn't so bad, was it, Ced?"

Cedric shook his head, smiling proudly as his mother stepped through the gateway.

"I told you you could do it, Ced," His mother said proudly.

"Thanks, mom," Cedric said sheepishly, not making eye contact. He had been afraid of the barrier, if only very slightly, but now he was through it, it was easier to deal with.

"Well, you have seven minutes, Ced," Cedric's father said, checking his watch. "So you best get a compartment. Goodness knows they're probably all out already."

"Amos!" Cedric's mother said, in slight disbelief. "No need to scare him. Even in our time we knew there were plenty of open compartments all the way up till two minutes before the train pulled out."

Cedric's father smiled fondly. "Of course, dear. Regardless, that two minute mark is fast approaching. Ced?"

But Cedric wasn't really paying attention. He had spotted a girl on the other side of the train station from him. She looked lonely, holding a trunk that was far too big for her, shoulder length brown hair in thick, wide curls that gave her the look of being classy, as though her Muggle street clothes were far too shabby for such a fancy hair style. The thought crossed Cedric's mind that she should have worn a fancy set of dress robes, much like he had seen her mother wear when they attended the annual Ministry appreciation. She was looking at him too, small freckles visible from so far way, deep blue eyes meeting his gray ones.

"Cedric?" Cedric's mother asked, trying to bring him back to their conversation. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Cedric broke his gaze from the girl, looking at his parents, who were staring at him expectantly. "No! I'm fine. I'm sorry. What?"

"You best be getting on the train, now, son," Cedric's father said, patting his son's shoulder reassuringly. "Have a good year!"

"Take care," His mother said lovingly, hugging him, and kissing him on the cheek. "Write often!"

"I will," Cedric said, hefting his trunk, and moving as best he could along the platform, limping, using his leg to support and move his trunk forward. He wanted to- no, he _needed_ to find that girl, whoever she was, but when he looked for her again, once a group of people had walked past, she was gone.

Disheartened but unwavering, Cedric walked to the nearest train entrance and began to ascend the staircase, walking backwards, pulling the trunk up the stairs with him as he climbed. Unfortunately, his bag got caught on the last stair as he tried to pull it up and into the hallway of the train's first long corridor. With a final tug, his trunk shot backwards and he ran into the train corridor wall with his back rather hard, trunk landing on the wall on his right and then flopping to the floor, blocking the train corridor for anyone passing by.

"Sorry," a girl's voice said in an undertone as he groaned from the effort of pulling himself off the wall.

"It's my bad," Cedric said, righting his bag as he looked up at the girl who had spoken.

It was the girl he had seen on the platform, holding her trunk upright in front of her as best she could even though it threatened to fall forward, taking her with it.

"Oh! Hi!" Cedric said brightly.

"Hi," the girl said, looking at him with her deep blue eyes very confusedly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no nothing's wrong," Cedric said, shaking his head. "I just saw you from across the platform."

"I saw a lot of people from across the platform," the girl said, still confused.

"Well I only saw one person," Cedric explained. "And that person was you."

"And your parents," the girl corrected him. "You also saw your parents."

"I thought you said you didn't see me," Cedric said, playing dumb.

"I never said I did," the girl said, deadpanning at him. "But everyone here has parents visiting them and seeing them away, even the older students."

"Speaking of older students!" someone shouted, making Cedric and the girl turn around to see the large queue forming behind them while they didn't move. "Have some respect, first years! We want to go to school too! So go find a compartment and do what you need to do! The world doesn't revolve around you."

"Sorry!" the girl exclaimed sacredly and turned to Cedric. "Move!"

"Where?" Cedric asked, hefting his trunk forward and down the corridor as fast as he could.

"Somewhere not here," the girl said, following behind him.

"A compartment?" Cedric asked.

"Makes no difference to me," the girl said.

Once he was far enough down the train that the people behind them had stopped and found their own compartments, Cedric began to slide open compartment doors, looking for empty ones.

"In here?" Cedric asked when he found the first empty compartment they came to towards the back o the game.

"Makes no difference to me," the girl repeated.

Pushing his trunk in front of him, Cedric sidled into the compartment, leaving it open for the girl to enter after him. He stepped onto the seat and hefted his trunk onto the shelf hanging from the ceiling and turned around, but the girl was nowhere to be found. Hopping off the seat, he ducked his head out into the corridor, where the girl had continued walking, heading farther back into the train.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cedric called out.

"To find a compartment!" she called back, not turning around as she continued trunk-limping down the corridor.

"There's one right here!" Cedric called out.

"But you're in it," she called back, voice getting softer.

"That's the point!" Cedric called back.

"That's the point!" the girl repeated to him and stopped; it sounded like she hadn't actually expected him to say this, already having formulating her response in her head. Slowly, she turned around, looking at him very curiously "Wait. Let's start that round again. You're in that compartment."

"That's the point!" Cedric repeated, wondering what it would take for the girl to understand what he was suggesting.

"I thought you wanted to be alone!" she said.

"I never said that. Care to join me?" he offered.

"Do I have to say yes?" she asked, playing pouting slightly.

"No, but it would make me very happy, and then we wouldn't have to sit alone."

"What if I like being alone?" the girl asked him suspiciously. "What makes you think I want to change? I've lived my whole life alone."

"Then we can be alone in here together."

"How does that work?"

"Care to find out?" Cedric challenged.

Awkwardly, the girl paused for a minute, and then clumsily turned around in the corridor as best she could and began to trunk-limp to his compartment. He honestly didn't know why he was pushing to get her to join him so much, but something did. Something compelled him to talk to this girl, from the moment they had made eye contact on the platform for the first time, he felt… drawn to her.

With a final heft into the other basket for her trunk, the girl flopped down into the seat under it, staring at Cedric, who had used the opportunity to close the door. There was a silence, a long silence. It wasn't awkward or comfortable… just a silence that persisted all the way through the train's departure and out of the city.

"So this is what being alone with someone else feels like?" the girl asked as the first of the fields of countryside began to roll past.

"Guess so," Cedric said. "What a strange feeling."

"I kind of like it," the girl said. They were silent for another few minutes before she spoke again. "So what's your name?"

"Cedric," he responded, nodding. "Cedric Diggory. What about you?"

"Promise," she said, smiling somewhere between embarrassment and dismay. "Promise Ledger."

"Really?" Cedric asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I know," she said bitterly, not looking at him, and instead at the crack under the compartment door. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

"Are you kidding?" Cedric asked. "That's quite possibly the coolest name I've ever heard."

"You're joking," she said, looking at him. "You have the name Cedric. Do you know anyone else?"

"I know you, my parents, my parents' friends…" Cedric's voice trailed off. "But no one has a name like Promise. That's a really awesome name."

"You really think so?" she asked, smiling at him.

Cedric chuckled. "I know so."

"You're not lying?" Promise asked, eyeing him suspiciously. "Just so you'll have someone to be alone with?"

"I won't lie to you," Cedric said, patriotically.

"What does that make you?" she asked. "Some kind of Pretty Boy?"

He frowned at the sudden nickname she had given him. "Tell you what, if I ever lie to you, walk away, and don't come back." He held out his hand to seal the deal.

She looked at his hand. "That's a strange thing to say," she said, looking up at him.

"This is a strange meeting," he said, not moving his hand.

"Fine," she said, holding her hand out for him to shake. As he was going to grab it, however, she pulled it away. "But this only works if it goes for me too."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked.

"I mean," Promise said. "If I lie to you, you walk away."

"Deal," Cedric said, grabbing Promise's hand and shaking it heartily.

"So what are we?" She asked as she withdrew her hand. "Best friends?"

"Guess so," Cedric shrugged.

"Oh, you're not lying are you?" she asked, as though semi-disgusted.

"Didn't we just make a bet about that?" Cedric asked, smiling at his new best friend.

* * *

Cedric looked at himself in the mirror, noting the small bags under his eyes. In retrospect, staying up so late the night before the Third Task wasn't a good idea. Regardless of what time he went to bed, he should have realized he would have had to wake at an unreasonable hour in order to go to breakfast. People would want to say hi to him and wish him luck before the task, getting a jump on board before everyone else said something at lunch. He had to talk to Promise, yell at her specifically. Olivia would want to know if Promise hadn't told her already… He shouldn't have stayed up, but it was worth it. Oh, it was definitely worth it. But now he had to deal with the repercussions of his actions. 

Such was life, though. It just meant he'd be running on more adrenaline than usual. True, he could have slept longer and not gone to breakfast, but really, going to breakfast on the day of the Third Task was a very good idea. It was a good way to get some fast energy to keep him going with his adrenaline for the rest of the day.

Besides, he wanted to see Sam.

He walked down the staircase to the Common Room, where Promise sat, twiddling her thumbs innocently. As Cedric descended the staircase and she saw him, she stood over far too quickly. Cedric stopped dead, halfway down the staircase. He should have realized she would do this. He should have realized it.

"Morning," Promise said brightly, happily, excitement completely uncontainable. "How are you?"

And contagious; Cedric couldn't help but smile himself. "I'm… good. What about you?"

"I'll bet you I'm nowhere near as good as you are," Promise smiled, already pressing for details on what had happened either before or after she walked in on Sam and Cedric.

"You think so?" Cedric asked, keeping a straight face, giving her nothing to work with. "What makes you say that?"

"I have this ability to make people feel better than me… And I'm always so chipper! Can you believe that?" Promise asked, perky, bordering on bubbly, but without the squeak. "But I have a feeling it's more than just me being bouncy. Care to share?"

"It's the adrenaline," Cedric shrugged, taking a blind stab in the dark. That was part of it, he was sure. For making him feel really tired, adrenaline did always have the ability to make him rather loopy, which in occasions such as this would translate as chipper.

Promise looked at him, suddenly very serious. "You're not lying to me, are you? Not now, not at your crowning moment over your existence?"

"Actually, I think that was last night," Cedric said, correcting yet casual.

"And what, my dear Pretty Boy, happened last night?"

"You walked in on a conversation," Cedric said smiling patronizingly.

Promise laughed fondly reminiscently. "Yeah. That was funny. But what happened?"

Cedric eyed her carefully. This was too good of an opportunity to toy with her, way too good of an opportunity. "I don't know if I trust you."

Promise exploded as Cedric continued a normal trek down the stairs. "What? What do you mean you don't trust me? How can you say that? We trust each other! Going on almost six full years now and you're unsure you trust me or not? Who are you? Did you or did you not-"

Cedric grabbed Promise by the shoulders and looked into her eyes very deliberately. "I'll tell you later," he said and continued his walk out of the Common Room and to the Great Hall.

Something hit him in the shoulder. It wasn't a hard hit but it tickled, like a single finger was itching his bare shoulder gently. It didn't itch, but it was a strange sensation, slightly enjoyable, but not annoying, not yet anyways.

"Sorry," Promise said, fingering her wand as he turned around. "My wand slipped."

"Sure it did," Cedric said sarcastically. "See how you almost lied to me?"

"No!" Promise said, shocked at the idea that she would lie to him. "It really did! I was aiming for the nape of your neck."

Cedric shot a look at her. "Can you take it away?"

Promise half closed one eye and inhaled as she thought, making it seem like she was debating with herself. "Nnnnoooo," She said slowly, like it was the right thing to say.

"Why not?" Cedric asked.

"You know why," Promise said, feigning bitterness.

Cedric eyed her again. "If I tell you, will you take it away?"

"Yes," Promise said quickly, relieved.

"We kissed," Cedric said. "Now take it away."

"That's it? That's all you're giving me?" Promise asked, incredibly put out.

"For now," Cedric nodded. "More later."

Promise pouted for a second. "Fine."

With a flick of her wand, the tickling sensation left Cedric's shoulder.

"Thank you," Cedric said, exiting the Common Room and into the Kitchen corridor.

"You're welcome," Promise said, walking slightly faster than he was to catch up. "But you owe me."

"All in good time," Cedric said as they left the corridor and walked to the entrance of the Great Hall. "Goodness knows you might be able to figure it out once we're in here."

"I look forward to it," Promise said as they entered the Great Hall.

* * *

The Great Hall doors slammed open and the year's new batch of First Year students walked through the doors, gazing at the ceiling, much like Cedric had done when he walked into the Great Hall with Promise just one year ago. The thought of Promise and him walking across this long traverse to the head table shot through his mind. 

"Watch it!" Promise hissed to his right.

He looked at her where the first of the first years had just walked past and saw, to his confusion, that she was holding her shin.

"What happened?" Cedric asked, looking at her confusedly.

"Bloody first years," Promise swore, aggravated, lifting up the hem of her robe and examining her shin. "Now my leg is swelling! That's just great…"

Cedric smiled. "Remember Promise, you were just a first year three months ago."

"I'm sorry," Promise said, rubbing her shin. "Was I really-"

The world slowed. Promise's voice faded out of existence. The first years began to walk past at a flobberworm's pace.

Sandy blonde shoulder length hair bobbing, a girl was walking past him. Cedric felt his jaw slacken as he watched her pass, oblivious to his existence. She walked to the front of the Great Hall, where she stood with her fellow first years, waiting patiently for whatever came next. She needed to wait there forever, if for nothing else, then just so he could watch her stand there, bathed in the pleasant candlelight of the Great Hall. He was vaguely aware of the Sorting Hat and its song echoing all around the hall, only subconsciously realizing what it was when the girl gasped and watched something with rapt intensity. When the song had finished, she clapped politely, like a queen, a regal queen.

"Pssst! Cedric!" Promise hissed. "What are you looking at?"

"Hmm?" Cedric asked, totally lost in rapture.

"What are you looking at?" Promise repeated as Professor McGonagall pulled out a scroll of parchment and began to read off names, beginning with Zachary Aidlin.

"Her," Cedric said, doing his best to keep the dreamy out of his voice.

"Her who?" Promise asked as Professor McGonagall began to read off another name, as Zachary became the first Slytherin.

"There's a girl up there," Cedric's voice trailed off.

"Who?" Promise asked, confused. "Who's up there?"

"That's... special," Cedric said dreamily, not paying attention to Promise, watching the girl intently, knowing her name wasn't Amanda Batson.

"You sure you're okay?" Promise continued. "I've never seen you so riveted on anything. Are you waiting for a Hufflepuff? Because this one might be-"

"GRYFFINDOR!!!" The Sorting Hat called out.

"Never mind," Promise continued, unperturbed by the Sorting Hat's call. "No Hufflepuffs."

Amanda Batson went over to join the yelling and shouting Gryffindors.

"Ryan Belter?" Professor McGonagall called out, making the boy standing next to the girl walk forward to put on the hat.

Cedric kept his eyes riveted on the girl, completely at a loss for words. If only she would get Hufflepuff, his life would be complete, well… almost complete. He still didn't know her name.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"What are you staring at?" Promise asked amid the always unbelievable din of the Slytherin table.

Professor McGonagall looked at the parchment, holding it so her eyes could see it.

"Cedric, what are you looking at?" Promise repeated.

"Samantha Bennett!" Professor McGonagall shouted, making the girl Cedric had been unable to take his eyes off of step forward to try on the hat.

"Samantha Bennett," Cedric answered, smiling, already infatuated with her name, eyes focused on making the Sorting Hat shout "Hufflepuff."

"Who? Her?" Promise whispered, moving her head to try to get a better view, even though Samantha had completely disappeared beneath the brim of the hat. "Why are you looking at her?"

"Shhh!" Cedric hissed, still focusing.

"Fine, fine," Promise said defensively, retreating internally, looking sad and dejected. "Whatever catches your snitch, Ced."

_Please, Hufflepuff_. Cedric pleaded with himself. _Please Hufflepuff._

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted.

In an instant, Cedric was the first on his feet, cheering madly as Samantha took the hat off her head to the Hufflepuffs, who were welcoming their first new member with a standing ovation.

Smiling and blushing profusely, Samantha walked the length of the table, past Cedric as he clapped and cheered her name. She smiled at him as she passed, making eye contact for an instant flashing him nothing short of a breathtaking smile.

"What was that?" Promise asked, taking her seat as Cedric did the same.

"Life," Cedric said dreamily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Promise asked.

"It means I've already fallen for her," Cedric said as Sam joined the table a few feet down from where he was, talking softly but amicably with the Hufflepuffs around her.

"Already?" Promise asked, completely in disbelief.

"I guess," Cedric frowned, looking at Promise.

Promise loosened her muscles, stretching out her arms in all possible directions as though preparing for a jog. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us, eh?"

"No," Cedric said. "Don't do anything with this. If it's meant to happen, then it has to happen how it has to happen."

Promise eyed him. "Your funeral, but if you need my help, I'm here."

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric said as he watched Samantha from far way, still unable to do anything but look at her.

"Oh, it's that bad, is it?" Promise asked.

"I guess," Cedric smiled vaguely as he kept his eyes on Sam.

"Don't worry," Promise said, placing a hand on Cedric's shoulder. "You'll get her in the end."

"You really think so?" Cedric asked hopelessly.

"Yeah, I do," Promise said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Don't lie to me, Promise," Cedric said seriously.

"And leave you without my company?" Promise smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

Cedric sat down at the table across from Sam and Olivia who were talking casually until Cedric sat down, Promise taking the seat next to him. 

Sam looked at him and smiled, making him melt at the thought. "Hey you," she said.

"Hey you," Cedric repeated, smiling at her smile.

"Oh that is so cool!" Olivia said thankfully looking up at the clear sky of the Great Hall ceiling.

"You didn't get that yet?" Promise asked Olivia.

"Well you didn't tell me anything! And Sam here's been tightlipped," Olivia said exasperatedly. "I've been going mad trying to figure out what's been going on! And now you come in with your respective 'hey you's' and now I know what's going on! Took long enough."

Cedric smiled and looked at Sam. "How are you?" He asked, trying to keep it casual. Well, casual in the sense he acknowledged that them kissing was more than just casual, that he didn't regret it.

"Tired," Sam nodded. "You?"

"Same," Cedric nodded.

"What are you guys not telling me?" Olivia asked bitterly. "You were up all night?"

"Not all night," Sam blushed, turning back to her breakfast and taking a few bites of bacon.

"I should hope not!" Promise said very motherly. "Girls chasing boys and boys chasing girls at all hours of the night! It's unheard of! Besides, my little Cedric needs his pretty sleep."

"Don't you mean beauty sleep?" Sam asked, desperate to get off the subject.

"No, Cedric's a Pretty Boy, hence pretty sleep," Promise explained. "He's not a beauty boy, so he can't have beauty sleep."

"I see," Olivia nodded, focused on Promise for the moment. "So what happened?" She asked, turning the conversation back to what happened between Sam and Cedric.

Sam and Cedric looked at each other fondly.

"Can we tell you later?" Sam asked.

"I've been waiting almost twelve hours to get results!" Olivia exclaimed, but keeping her voice down to avoid the attention. "I think I've given you more than enough leeway."

Cedric looked at Sam again, who shrugged.

"We kissed," Sam said modestly, completely understating how mind alteringly amazing the kiss was and how much it burned in Cedric's eyes. He let his foot side forward along the ground until it slightly touched something. Keeping his eyes riveted on Sam, he began to move his foot up and down her leg slowly, sensually. She shot him a look of "what are you doing?" but he just kept going, moving his leg slowly up and down.

"Can you believe that's all they'll say about it? 'We kissed?' That's it?"Promise asked, speaking to Olivia, unaware of Cedric's game of footsie with Sam.

Cedric and Sam began to entangle feet, the bottom of Sam's foot massaging the top of Cedric's. They kept their eyes locked, completely oblivious to everything else. Olivia and Promise tangented onto another conversation, but for now, it didn't matter. What did matter is Cedric's pleasant game with Sam.

"Cedric?" someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Cedric asked, snapping back to reality, foot retreating from Sam's.

"Cedric," Professor Sprout said. "the Champions are all meeting in the room behind the hall after breakfast."

Cedric looked to Sam, then to Promise and Olivia, and finally back to Professor Sprout. "If I may, Professor? Is there a reason for this meeting?"

"The champions' families are invited to watch the final task. They arrived this morning, and you are more than welcome to spend the day with them, especially because of your exemption from exams."

"Alright," Cedric said, shrugging, but smiling. He looked to Promise and Olivia. "See you at lunch?"

"If not sooner," Promise nodded.

He looked at Sam and smiled warmly. "I love you," he mouthed.

"I love you too," she mouthed back.

And with that, Cedric turned to head for the side chamber, listening to Olivia and Promise's squeals of exuberance as they began to pelt Sam with questions. He hadn't gotten very far when he was joined by Fleur Delacour.

"Good morning, Cedric," she said brightly.

"Good morning, Fleur!" Cedric said very brightly. "And how are you this fine morning?"

"I'm vehry well, zhank you, Cedric," Fleur smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it," Cedric said. "You ready for tonight?"

"I hope so," she said brightly.

"That's excellent," Cedric said encouragingly as he pulled open the door to the side room and held it open for Fleur to enter.

"Any reason you're so cheery, Cedric?" Fleur asked smugly.

"I'll tell you later," Cedric said brightly as he saw his parents, who waved and beckoned him to them. To their left, Cedric saw a short red headed woman about his mother's age and a tall red headed man with a dragon earring and hair pulled back in a ponytail. They must be the Weasleys obviously here in the capacity of Harry's parents.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Cedric's mother said.

"Morning, mom," Cedric smiled.

"How are things, son?" his father asked.

"Very good," Cedric said, still unable to stop smiling.

"We can see that, dear," Cedric's mother said. "Is there a reason for that?"

"Third Task, best friends I've had in a long time, you're here and I just started dating Samantha Bennett last night," Cedric said reminiscently.

"The girl from the Quidditch World Cup?" Cedric's father asked, smiling, eyes twinkling.

Cedric nodded. "The one and the same."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, son," Cedric's father said, giving Cedric a very genuine, heartfelt smile.

"Me too," Cedric said, smiling.

"Any reason this all happened last night?" Cedric's mother asked.

"Because Promise likes to play matchmaker," Cedric suggested.

"I'll believe that," Cedric's mother said. "She always did seem to me like someone liable to do that."

"Ummm, excuse me," Mrs. Weasley asked, turning to Cedric and his parents as Krum walked into the room. "Do you know if Harry's planning to come see us? I don't think he realizes we'd come to visit him. He probably thinks we're his Muggle guardians or something."

Cedric shook his head. "No idea, but I can go get him if you'd like."

"Would you?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "It'd be ever so kind of you."

"Sure," Cedric said, smiling, more than willing to help anyone, today of all days. He walked to the door and pushed it open, ducking his head into the Great Hall just as he saw Harry stand up from the Gryffindor table and begin to walk away. "Harry!" he called out. "Come on! They're waiting for you!"

Smiling as Harry turned around and headed towards him and his room, Cedric returned to his parents.

"So what have you been up to?" Cedric's father asked.

"Studying," Cedric said, waving at Harry as he entered. "You know how it is."

"Still loving Arithmancy?" Cedric's mother asked.

"Our teacher threw cake at us," Cedric nodded, pleased with the thought of it.

"Really?" Cedric's father asked, intrigued. "Old Wadelbach never threw any cake at us. All he did was lecture."

"Mmm hmm," Cedric's mother said reminiscently. "And we still managed to pass the class."

"Somehow," Cedric's father said, remembering fondly back to a better time. "So, Ced!" He clapped his hands together. "So d'you wanna do us around?"

"Absolutely," Cedric said, and he led them out of the room and into the rest of Hogwarts.

The time passed slowly as they walked through the halls of the school, visiting the library and various empty classrooms, looking at the portraits and the many sculptures and suits of armor. They kept a constant conversation going, talking about everything from the first two tasks (Cedric's parents agreed that the second task couldn't have been that exciting) to Cedric's sudden and unexpected relationship with Sam but dropped the talk to lower whispers as they passed by various exam classrooms.

All through their walk, Cedric couldn't get the various thoughts flying through his head. His relationship with Promise was as strong as ever, he was now going steady with Sam (they had kissed just last night, the thought still baffled him), and he was spending the day with his parents before what was sure to be the most intense night of his life.

And yet, for all the time he spent, thinking about how slowly time was moving (and how slow it still needed to move) he found himself sitting at the lunch table just as Sam and Olivia sat down with Promise, who slammed her books down as loud as she could.

"And that is me being done with Arithmancy for the summer!" She declared proudly. "Oh you should've seen it, Ced. Cyclical Arithmancy! Time repeats and everything! That's all the test was about and I nailed it! Unn!" She huffed, making a victorious gesture.

"Hello, Promise," Cedric's mother smiled, ignoring her just-moments-ago-outburst.

"Oh, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Diggory," Promise said, humbled for a second in reverent respect as she suddenly became boastful Promise again. "I just finished Arithmancy! Yes!"

"I thought you liked Arithmancy," Cedric's father said.

"Oh, I do," Promise said. "But it's nice to know that now I can learn Abstract Arithmancy. And I actually earned it! Unlike him, who just won a lottery to get his name pulled out of a Goblet."

"She has a point, Ced," Cedric's father teased.

"I know," Cedric said, blushing. "So how was everyone else's morning?"

"Lonely," Sam said dreamily yet airily.

"Yes, quite," Olivia said. "We were wondering if you'd remember we don't have class because of our O.W.L.'s being done."

"Right," Cedric said, wincing slightly. "My bad." He looked to his parents. "Mind if I spend some time with Sam and Olivia later this afternoon?"

"None for me, thanks," Olivia said, stretching. "I'll switch. You can hang out with Sam and Promise and I'll entertain your parents."

"Don't speak for me," Promise said, feigning offense. She turned to Cedric's parents. "But Olivia and I would be more than happy to entertain you while Cedric enjoys time with his girlfriend."

All eyes turned to Cedric.

"I- I never called her my girlfriend," Cedric said defensively. "But if that's where this is going, I guess that's how it is." He smiled at Sam, who blushed back.

"Then it's a date," Promise said confirmatorily. "Man, if I'da known it was going to be this easy to set things up with you two, I woulda done this months ago."

Cedric smiled as he turned to his lunch, ready to eat with his five favorite people in the whole entire world.

* * *

Cedric pushed open the icy gate as the taxi cab pulled away from him; with a look back, he wondered what the Muggle driver was thinking about as he left. It must have been incredibly strange to see a sixteen year old boy dressed in very nice slate blue robes ask to be taken to the middle of nowhere. Sighing, he shut the large wrought iron gate behind him and turned to face the long driveway, facing the large three story mansion in the very near distance. 

He began to walk the length of the drive, feet crunching in the thin layer of snow, which was cut in two lines of rivets where cars had driven, making lines through the frozen water on the ground. He kept his eyes focused on the bright lights of the house, which was growing as he came closer and closer to the front doors.

After a few more minutes of walking, the drive broke to the right, making a circle around a very large fountain. As the circle began, Cedric found cars parked on either side of the drive. It was strange, but aside from London itself, Cedric had never seen so many Muggle cars in one place, and he certainly hadn't expected so many cars at a wizarding home. Had he come to the right place? He leaned over, looking inside the car to see if he could see anything inside it.

He jumped back almost at once. Inside, seated at the driver's seat, looking mindless, was a man, dressed nicely, hands placed on the wheel, facing straight ahead. The man hadn't moved since Cedric looked at him, and he didn't seem to have noticed him at all. Indeed, he didn't seem to notice much of anything at all, facing straight forward, not blinking or moving at all.

Shrugging and wondering about the peculiarity of what he had just seen, Cedric walked towards the brightly lit front door, noticing the same male drivers parked in all the other cars lining the path to the front door. As he approached, he heard voices all laughing and talking amiably. Sighing, he lifted his hand and placed it on the large shiny iron knocker and rammed it on the door three times, making someone call out in alarm.

He turned around and looked out at the drive towards the wrought iron gate, which was shrouded in darkness. What if he had come to the wrong house and a Muggle opened the door. How strange would it be to see a young sixteen year old boy standing in a doorway, dressed in fancy slate blue dress robes?

With the sound of a click and the fssssshhh of a door sliding open, Cedric turned around.

"Merry Christmas!" A woman exclaimed.

Her hair was brown and frizzy, not long (although Cedric expected that if she had straightened it it would have gone all the way down to the small of her back) and her eyes were hazel, having a sort of glassy quality about them. She seemed… tipsy, as though she had had too much to drink, but had done so in such a way that she was still in complete control of herself.

"And what marvelous dress robes!" she commented brightly, words not slurring, scarlet dress robes, swishing around her. "Where did you get them?"

"Madam Malkin's," Cedric said confusedly. This woman was… strange… she had already commented on Cedric's dress robes and had not seemed to realize that she had never seen him before, or at least, Cedric had not seen her before.

"Really?" The woman asked. "There? Oh heavens that place is not the place to go for dress robes, although if you did have to buy as set from there, at least you bought a beautiful set. Those really are quite wonderful!" She paused. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Er, no, at least, I don't think so," Cedric said.

"Lizzie!" someone shouted, a man's voice this time. "What on earth are you doing?" He rounded the corner with his second phrase, cool, royal blue dress robes on his body, dark black hair in a finely combed coif parted to one side, small round glasses making him look incredibly intelligent perched on his nose. "Oh, hello," he said brightly, cheerily, nodding to Cedric. "Lizzie!" he repeated. "What on earth are you doing?"

"This fine young gentleman here is patiently waiting to come inside," the woman said Lizzie said. "But I don't know him. Is he one of yours?"

"No, I don't reckon he is," the man said, looking at Cedric, as though trying to recognize him. "Do I know you?"

"No, I don't think so," Cedric said. "I'm a friend of Promise's."

They looked at him strangely, confused by what he had just said.

"Promise?" the woman asked, perplexed.

The man and woman looked at each other, trying to understand what Cedric was talking about. After a few more awkward seconds, they dawned in comprehension.

"Ohhhhhh," the man breathed in understanding. "Promise! Right! Come in, come in!" He turned around to face the rest of the house. "Promise! Your friend is here!" He turned back and extended his arm to Cedric, who had entered the large house. "Good evening, I'm Charles, Promise's father."

"And my name's Elizabeth," the woman said, doing the same as her husband.

"No," Promise's father teased. "It's Lizzie."

"No it's not," Promise's mother said, blushing slightly, but in such a way that Cedric knew she wanted him to continue.

"Yes it is, my wittew dizzy Izzie," Promise's father said, smiling, yet pouting like a child and turning his voice into baby talk.

"It is not, starlie Charlie darlie," Promise's mother said, taking a few steps towards her husband so that their faces were almost together.

"You're so funny," he smiled as their noses met and they rubbed them against each other and making them both giggle.

"Mom, dad?" Promise said, slight look of revulsion on her face as she rounded the corner into the massive hall, dressed in beautiful light green dress robes. "We have guests."

But the two weren't paying much attention to her. Mrs. Ledger had wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, and Mr. Ledger had wrapped his arms around her waist. They were staring at each other, gazing into each other's eyes. After a few seconds, they pulled in and kissed, as though it was their first time kissing.

"Hi," Promise said, not paying any attention to her parents. "Merry Christmas." She pulled him into a really tight hug. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Cedric said, hugging her back, trying his best to not pay attention to Promise's parents, but failing miserably as they exchanged meaningful "I love you's."

"Oy! Lizzie! Chuck!" someone shouted out from the rest of the house. "Get back in here! We all got our food and we're about ready to start another game!"

"Coming!" Promise's father shouted over his wife's shoulder. "So shall we?"

"Of course," his wife smiled lovingly.

And without another word to Promise or Cedric, they left and turned around the corner, heading to meet the friends in the other room of the house.

"Everyone's in the large ballroom," Promise said sheepishly. "They're playing a murder mystery game. It's very fun, especially if you get to watch. So… would you like to? That's where all the food is, anyway."

"Of course," Cedric said, smiling.

They turned around the corridor and headed down the long, spacious hallway. Doors lined the hall every so often, but they were all closed and few and far between, giving Cedric the impression that the rooms beyond were large and spacious. After about a hundred feet, Promise pulled a left and another left at the first set of double doors, which were open and inviting. Cedric followed her in and lost his breath.

The room was gigantic. Lining the wall on the right was a long table of food, behind which stood waiters in very traditional, black and white dress robes. On the left was a large piano, where a man sat playing it very regally and loudly, swaying with each note he played. Cedric hadn't heard any music when he had been in the hallway, which he guessed was the result of a sound dampening charm someone had placed on the room. The far wall opposite the entrance was not even a wall at all, but a series of large glass windows, creating the image of black night sky beyond them. Above them, where the second floor would have been, was an open area, making it very cavernous and vast as it took up two floors, which was obvious when Cedric noticed the banistered five foot wide sections of floor lining three of the four walls (but not the glass window wall) around the room. Five or six doors were on each wall of where the second floor should have been, probably leading to various rooms on the second floor, and large, sweeping staircases swooped down on either side of Cedric and on the other side of the room at the glass doors on the other end of the wall. In the center of the room was a large, emerald green rug, embroidered, Cedric could see from even this distance, with intricate detail and perfect symmetry. On the rug were Promise's parents and their hundred or so houseguests, eating food from golden platters and silver spoons and forks.

"Come on," Promise said, rolling her eyes and grabbing Cedric's arm, pulling him towards the wall on the right.

"And they're all playing a murder mystery?" Cedric asked, impressed.

"They're in pairs," Promise shrugged.

"That's still an intense murder mystery. Took them three hours to finish the first one. Usually they take a third of that."

"Why aren't you playing?" Cedric asked

"I fit better on the outside of these people," Promise shrugged. "They're royal pains in the neck."

"They don't look so bad," Cedric said, trying to see what was going on now that people were anxiously looking around trying in vain to see what character the other people had gotten.

"Except for the cheating," Promise said grimly. "Come on, let's get some food."

Cedric knew even before he looked that the food in this line would be nothing short of spectacular. They only had the finest cuts of meat and the most perfectly cooked seafood in their lines. Even the desserts were fantastic. Cedric made special note of Promise taking several small cups of Crème Brulée. With a shrug, Cedric picked a large plate and took what he could stack and then followed Promise to a long, cushy, comfortable black leather sofa, where they sat and watched the game intensely, not quite focusing on who the players were, but on how they acted. Cedric could have sworn someone would yell at him for eating horribly potentially volatile foods on such a nice sofa, but no one seemed to pay attention, even when Promise cut into the crispy top of her fourth small cup and flung a rather large section of brown crust onto the sofa. Cedric gasped and looked at Promise, but she rolled her eyes, took her finger, dipped a finger into the gob on the sofa, scooped it all up with her index, sucked on it, and closed her eyes, obviously content with the world.

Cedric did his best to focus on Promise, but the game was rather interesting. He kept listening to what each and every person said and watched how the couples interacted with both each other and other couples. They were like Promise's parents, completely infatuated with one another, but also not unwilling to discuss something, and in casual tones, tones of genuine caring and friendship. They were getting along very well, without any sort of problems whatsoever.

"So Izzie," a woman decked in magenta dress robes said, golden bracelets on either wrist dangling and clanging as she moved. "Where is Cornelius? Do you know?"

"Oh he was too busy, I'm afraid," Mr. Ledger said sadly. "He and Dolores have a late night meeting with the Aurors about the Black situation."

"And what is to become of that, I wonder?" A man wearing deep purple dress robes asked. "When will it end."

"Oh when the man's caught of course," Mrs. Ledger said very properly, but as though it was an obvious answer.

"No," the man shook his head. "What I mean is what is to happen with the students at the school? When will they remove the Dementors?"

"I was just talking with Cornelius about that the other day," a witch in a very light, pretty brown said. "He said they'd be there as long as it takes."

"And that is horrifying," her husband said, dressed in forest green dress robes. "I cannot wait for the Dementors to be back guarding Azkaban, where they belong."

"But what about the school?" the witch in magenta asked.

"What about it?" Mr. Ledger replied. "I want the Dementors back in Azkaban where they can do their job and not babysit students. Bring them back to the more important things."

"I agree," Mrs. Ledger nodded, concurring with her husband.

"Of course you would," the man in brown said in an undertone, rolling his eyes very noticeably.

"So what's the point of the game?" Cedric said, leaving the political chatter and turning to Promise.

She looked at him, as though concerned for his sanity. "It's a murder mystery. You try to find out who committed the murder."

"I know that," Cedric said. "But how are they playing?"

"Heck if I know," Promise said. "All I know is it's fun to watch."

"You think so?" Cedric asked, eyeing her. He figured she would have known exactly how to play. Yes, it was fun to watch just to see what these couples said to each other over the course of the game, but how they determined things and went about learning new puzzles and figuring out new clues was a complete mystery to him.

"Yeah," Promise sighed. "Just wish I knew how to play."

"So ask them?" Cedric said, stating the obvious.

"Meh. Ain't worth my effort," Promise yawned loudly. "You done here?"

"But we won't figure out who did it," Cedric said, protesting slightly. It was true, if he took away the conversation, the number of things they had actually done for progressing the game was very limited, and he sort of wanted to figure out who really was the murderer.

"Don't worry about it. It's my parents," Promise said, bored.

Cedric looked at her, taken aback. "How did you know?"

"I can tell," Promise said, standing up and walking away to the food wall.

Cedric looked back to Promise's parents who were "nose kissing" again, smiling and enjoying each other implicitly and intimately.

"Come on!" Promise said, calling out to Cedric and making him jump. Her voice had come loudly and in an echo across the room. Cedric picked up his plate, turned to face Promise, and began walking away towards the table of food. With a single look back, he watched the many couples continue chat amongst themselves, showing no sign that they had heard Promise's loud shout at all.

Biting his inner cheek, Cedric walked to the man behind the table and handed him his empty plate.

"Thanks, Herbie," Promise smiled at him.

"Of course Ms. Ledger," the man nodded respectfully.

"Where are we going?" Cedric asked, as Promise led him to the windowed wall at the end of the ballroom.

"Outside," Promise said.

"Why?" Cedric asked.

"To stay away from them," Promise said casually. "They're in the zone." She pushed open the large glass door and held it open for Cedric.

He muttered a word of thanks as he exited to the brisk villa. Like the room before it, the villa was large and beautiful even in the light coming from the ballroom. Cedric could see a pool on the level beneath them, with stairs heading down to it in front of them. Promise led the way to the pool, kicked off her light green sandals, which were embossed with small rubies and complemented her dress robes perfectly, and sat, dipping her feet in the water after hiking up her dress robes enough so they wouldn't get wet when her calves went into the water.

Following her lead, Cedric took off his black dress shoes and socks and joined Promise, making sure his robes didn't go into the water as well.

They sat in silence for several minutes, Cedric admiring the very numerous trimmed bushes that bordered the door lined walls on either side of the villa as well as the small area that enclosed the pool on either side by the raised level on either side.

"I like your house," Cedric said.

"Really?" Promise asked, looking at him, slightly relieved. "I was worried it'd be too much in your face." She paused. "It's not, is it?" She asked, concerned.

"No," Cedric said, looking at the large hedge shaped like a mermaid to his left. "Well… Maybe a little. But I'm not intimidated in any way."

"Cuz you get intimidated so easily," Promise said sarcastically.

"Well, yes," Cedric said, slightly confused.

"But not around Sam?" Promise asked, smirking slightly.

"Yeah," Cedric said, smiling reminiscently. "I like her."

Promise rolled her eyes and made a moan usually reserved for headaches. "Oh here he goes. See what happens when I bring that up? Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No," Cedric snapped himself out of it. "No, that's not needed. I'm done."

Promise bit the inside of her cheek and eyed him suspiciously. "Sam."

Cedric smiled, feeling butterflies shoot through his stomach as his feet swirled in the water. She kept looking at him, though. "No, really. I'm done," He protested.

"Of course you are," Promise said. "You know I can still do something for you? Don't you?"

Cedric protested. "She probably doesn't even know-"

"Oh don't start in on that," Promise interrupted him. "You managed to beat Harry Potter at Quidditch just a month ago."

"That was a fluke," Cedric said, still protesting. "He fell off his broom."

"And you didn't," Promise said in a sing song tone.

"There's something with those Dementors," Cedric said. "I could feel them too. They take things away from me."

"Memories?" Promise asked.

"Yeah," Cedric said, staring into the water and nodding. "I try to hold onto the faces of people I love. First I lose Sam, then my parents, and then you. And when I lose that I start to lose focus."

Promise nodded. "I only have you to hold onto. You got it easy."

"What about your parents?" Cedric asked.

"Well I have a lot more with you than with my parents," Promise shrugged.

"Ah," Cedric said.

They kept kicking the water idly for a few minutes until Promise spoke. "I'm never having kids."

Cedric looked at her, wondering where this sudden proclamation came from. "What? Why?"

"Cuz I'll turn into them," Promise threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the adults in the ballroom. "All they do is talk."

"Yeah, but kids have to be so rewarding," Cedric said. "Imagine the thought of something you created, a living breathing child who came from you. Doesn't that sound fulfilling?"

Promise shrugged. "It seems like too much of a drain on my life. I'd collapse into what my parents are: people who snog and can never get enough of each other."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Cedric asked.

Promise looked at him sadly. "I don't want to have to depend on someone to make me happy. That doesn't sound like a good thing. What happens when I'm apart from my someone? How does that work?"

"So you don't want to get married?" Cedric asked.

"No," Promise said. "I'll get married. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to bring a child into this word. That doesn't feel like a good thing. I'd probably do a terrible job. I don't know the first thing about it."

"You'd be a great mother," Cedric said.

Promise scoffed at him. "How would you know?"

"Because I know you," Cedric said. "And you'd do great."

"I'm being entirely serious when I say no I wouldn't," Promise said.

"You don't understand," Cedric shook his head.

"Understand what?" Promise asked.

"The best parents are the ones who think they'd be horrible. Did you ever notice the people who you'd think would be the worst suited to be parents have the most?" Cedric asked.

"That's actually a different thing, Cedric," Promise said. "It's called stupidity. Are you calling me stupid?"

"No," Cedric said coolly. "I'm saying it's worth it for you to consider being a parent."

Promise looked away. "I'm just afraid I might become them."

"You won't," Cedric said, placing a hand on her shoulder."

"Children always become the parents" Promise said softly, looking down at the water. "It's the cycle. People don't intend it, but they learn from their parents and then become them through example." She kicked the water absentmindedly as they sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, subject closed. "I wonder how they made Dementors."

"Hmmmm?" Cedric asked, looking at her.

"Well, I mean, the Dementors had to be created from something," Promise explained. "So how did they come about? I mean, for all the good in the world, there must be evil, or a polar opposite if you will. Regardless of whether you see something as good or evil, there has to be a counterpoint to it. I mean, the opposite of Harry Potter is Lord Voldemort…" Cedric cringed. "So the Dementors, being things that suck the emotion and happiness out of people, have to have a balance to them."

"Like what?" Cedric asked.

"That's a fair question," Promise shrugged, keeping her eyes on the water. "But shouldn't there be something in the world that can give you emotion, or suck all the sadness out of you? Something that can make you feel warm inside?"

"It's called the sun," Cedric whispered overly-secretively.

Promise glared at him. "Ha ha. I'm trying to be serious here and you're just able to make a joke. Goodness! Can't you ever be serious?"

"Sorry," Cedric said. "But you have to admit, that was a pretty good joke."

She clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "True-ché," Promise said. "But seriously, is there something in the world that can do that?"

"People?" Cedric asked.

"What did I say about being serious?" Promise said, aggravated. "Now is not the time for jokes! It is the time for meaningfulicity and seriousity."

"I am being serious," Cedric said, confused.

"People don't do that," Promise said.

"Don't they?" Cedric asked. "I think that's exactly what they do."

"But a person can't counteract a Dementor," Promise said.

"It's about quantity," Cedric said. "There are only so many Dementors in the word, but there's way more people. I'll bet you Dementors are a byproduct of humans, nature's way of balancing the goodness of humanity."

"But why would nature want to take away humanity?" Promise asked.

"It doesn't," Cedric explained. "It just finds a balance, like you said. It doesn't pick sides of good or evil because it's nature, it's not that one-sided."

"So why are Dementors so strong?" Promise asked, interested in Cedric's explanation.

"Because…" Cedric thought. "Nature wants to keep down overpopulation. And in order to keep the numbers down, the Dementors need to be more powerful then the 'goodness of humanity' because there's less of them. See? Balance."

"Uh huh," Promise said, looking back to the water and watching her feet move. She turned back to him. "So do you want to try for a serious answer this time?"

"What? That wasn't good enough for you?" Cedric responded. "That was golden!"

"We'll work on it," Promise said. "How are you passing History again?"

"I actually study," Cedric nodded.

"Oh right," Promise said, nodding. "You're one of _those_ students. See, you have to realize that no one knows History of Magic that well."

"Except for Professor Binns," Cedric corrected her.

"Yeah, and look where that got him," she smiled smugly. "But History of Magic is just an opportunity to see how much you can just make up."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Cedric said.

"Doesn't it?" she asked. "Do you really know that much history?"

"Yeah, I like to think I do," Cedric nodded.

"Oh, right," Promise nodded pityingly. "Pretty Boy status and all that. You can memorize it if you spend enough time just wasting your time memorizing the text. Regardless, I think on the O.W.L. you should just cut lose and talk about whatever you remember. Who cares about Giant Wars? Yeah, they sound cool, but what is there to talk about? I mean, that's about, what? Ten years at most? That's insignificant. I'd start talking about whatever, anything and everything I could just to show I do know things. That's what they really want to know: that I know things more than just one specific piece of information that I happen to memorize," she paused for a second. "Wanna see my arsenal?"

"Arsenal?" Cedric asked. "Of what? Wands?"

"Better," Promise smirked. She hit him on the shoulder with her shoe. "Come on."

"Come on where?" Cedric asked.

"Just follow me!" Promise said, picking up her shoes and, feet clapping and leaving watery footprints on the stone as she ran, jogged to the doors leading into the ballroom.

Cedric followed her, not having time to do much more than pick up his shoes, much less dry his feet. She led him up the marble stair to their immediate right, taking them two at a time, and led him to the fourth door on the right and pulled out her wand.

"Hang on a second," she said, pointing her wand at the doorknob and walking as far as she could to the banister that overlooked the rest of the ballroom.

"What're you-"

"Shhh!" she hushed him, watching the couples on the floor. She watched them for a few seconds until her mother, slightly tipsy called out to anyone else.

"Anyone want more… drink?"

They all muttered in agreement and she pulled out her wand. The second she waved it, Cedric heard something clicked, and looked back just in time to see Promise's wand flicking to make her room unlock.

"Come on in," she said as Cedric heard protestations from the man running the food table beneath them.

Promise shut the door behind them and Cedric stepped into Promise's bedroom.

It was large, but stoic. She had a four poster bed in one corner and a bookshelf on one wall. The floor was spread with various clothes and books and scrolls of parchments she was working on. Her bed was devoid of anything except for the book Cedric had given her for Christmas, _Pretty Quirky Random Spells_, which was the seventh in a series by Miranda Goshawk, who had gone on after she wrote "The Standard Book of Spells" series to write a series of nonstandard spells in nine volumes (each one named after a sequence of three or four consecutive letters of the alphabet) that taught all of the spells teachers never bothered to teach in school because they were considered by many to be superfluous and unnecessary, and a copy of _The Pretty Boy's Guide to Living Through Classy Social Gatherings_. Cedric stared at it for a second.

"Promise," he asked. "How did you get that?"

"Oh," Promise said hastily, moving hastily, but as subtly as she could to her bed where she put the book behind her back and faced Cedric. "Catalog?" She asked, unsure herself. "I heard of it and knew I had t get one. Did you get it? They're very fun to read."

"Yeah," Cedric said suspiciously. "I got that exact book for Christmas, and I can't find any of them anywhere. I even asked my mum, and she has no idea what they are."

"Maybe they're from someone who Flourish and Blott's haven't heard of?" Promise suggested.

"What catalog did you order it from?" Cedric asked.

Promise pouted, incredibly put out. "Self Publishers Wizardly."

"But why would you…" His voice trailed off. "_You_ sent me those books?"

"Who else would send them to you, Cedric?" Promise asked.

Cedric narrowed his eyes. It was rather suspicious that Promise hadn't given him a Christmas present in the five years he had known her.

"Sometimes you disappoint me," Promise smiled, throwing her shoes carelessly into the closet to her right. "Come on, you have to see my inner sanctum."

"This isn't your inner sanctum?" Cedric asked.

"No, this is the outer inner sanctum," Promise explained. "But beyond this door," she pointed to the door to her left. "Is the inner inner sanctum."

"What do you do in your inner inner sanctum?" Cedric asked.

"Read books," Promise said simply, walking past the large, five tier bookshelf, which was completely saturated with books.

"Don't you have books here?" Cedric asked.

"That's my summer reading," Promise smiled, pushing open the door on her left and revealing a room as large as Promise's bedroom with bookshelves covering every wall and two long, ceiling height bookshelves down the middle of the room. Books, books, books. Everywhere books.

"You like it?" Promise asked, smiling at a jaw-dropped Cedric.

"It's amazing," Cedric said, unable to absorb all the books Promise had in her library.

"Isn't it?" Promise said casually. "I'm almost done with it."

"What?" Cedric asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah," Promise said, pointing to a wall. "I just have this wall to read, and I think that should take me this summer and the next."

"Where do you have the time?" Cedric asked.

"In this mansion, reading is my only option," Promise shrugged. "Parents are always working. You know my father has three jobs at the Ministry and my mum has four? What else am I going to do with my time."

He looked at her suspiciously. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

Promise smiled. It was one of those genuine smiles only friends of the degree of Cedric and Promise could give, one full of love and joy. "I'll never lie to you. Don't you know that yet? I don't want you to leave."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Cedric asked, smiling and pulling Promise into a hug.

"Cause then you'll know your friend, deep down, is schmaltzy and girly and not really the tough girl she pretends to be."

"But I already knew that," Cedric said.

Promise pulled away, so they were still hugging, but she could look at his face. "Really? Damn. And I thought I had just told you something new."

Cedric laughed, and didn't stop. He couldn't for some reason, and neither, from the looks of it, could Promise. They stood in Promise's library, holding each other and laughing for a long time.

"Oh, Promise," Cedric said, wiping a laughter tear away from his eye. "I love you."

"Don't lie to me, Ced," Promise said seriously, but still having a face that told Cedric she still wanted to laugh. "But I love you too."

* * *

Cedric stood in the entrance hall, waiting patiently. He looked over at his parents and smiled. "Thanks for this," he said sheepishly. 

"Don't worry about it, Ced," his father smiled. "I'm sure we'll have fun with Promise and Olivia."

"Well, now it feels like I'm leaving you," Cedric said, unsure exactly what to say about leaving with Sam.

Cedric's mother giggled slightly. "You can't leave us, Cedric."

"She's right, son," Cedric's father said, smiling at his son's nobility. "We want you to be happy, and we'll help you gain happiness in any way you can."

"Well, you make me happy," Cedric said, trying desperately to tell his parents he cared, that he wasn't just walking off with Sam blindly.

"We know, Cedric," his father said. "But even we can't give you that happiness someone you love can give you."

Cedric's father nodded. "If you love us and want to spend more time with us than the girl you love, then you're not doing it right."

"We'll be fine," Cedric's father said. "And we'll see you out there, so you don't have to worry about us."

"Thanks," Cedric said, completely speechless. He had no idea what to say in response to his parents' compassion. "I don't know what to say."

"Then say nothing, and save it for the girl who makes you happy," Cedric's father said. "That's what I did for your mother."

Cedric tried to say nothing as his mother looked embarrassedly at her husband. "I'll try to remember that, dad, thanks." He responded.

"Of course, son," Cedric's father said. "Good luck with the Third Task. We'll see you out there."

"And we'll be rooting for you all the way," Cedric's mother smiled. "You'll do great."

They pulled him into a hug simultaneously, making sure they held him tight for a long time. Cedric couldn't help but smile as his parents made sure to hold him tight for a long time. After a decent amount of time, they released the hug simultaneously, Cedric feeling warm and at ease inside. As he looked toward the entrance to the Hufflepuff corridor, he saw Sam, Promise, and Olivia all standing there, waiting for him. Sam looked hesitantly excited and anxious, Olivia looked content and happy, but Promise looked… conflicted yet cheery.

"Now you two don't stay out too late," Promise said, overly motherly.

Cedric's mother frowned at her. "Isn't that my job?"

"Promise has a mother complex," Olivia explained casually.

Promise shot a glare at her. "Don't say that."

"Why not?" Olivia asked, confused.

"Let's not talk about that," Cedric's father said lightly, obviously wanting to avoid the topic.

Cedric hadn't quite taken his eyes off of Sam. They were making eye contact, smiling.

"So…" Cedric said.

"Right!" Promise said. "I actually forgot! Can you believe that? I forgot this time was all about them. My goodness I'm out of it."

"Take care," Cedric's father said as Cedric held out his arm, which Sam took, and walked out the oak front doors.

The sun was still high in the sky, having just begun its descent into the horizon, but there would still be several hours until the world turned to twilight and the Third Task would begin. They stood on the marble stairs for a few minutes, Cedric wondering what they would do. He looked over at her at the same time she looked at him and smiled.

"Hi," he said, unsure exactly where to begin, but figuring the beginning was as good a place as any.

"Hey," Sam said, giving him one of those embarrassed smiles.

"How are you?" Cedric asked.

'Good,' Sam nodded. "And you?"

"Anxious," Cedric responded, finding a rich enough adjective to convey how he felt.

"I don't blame you," Sam said, nodding slightly in understanding. "I missed you," she said.

Cedric shook his head. "I missed you more."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Impossible."

Cedric turned to face her, and she to him. They stared at each other playfully serious and took alternating steps towards each other. First, Cedric took a step, then Sam, then Cedric, then Sam again… Before long they were directly in front of each other, unable to move any more lest they touch.

Sam shot a fleeting look at Cedric's lips and then up into his eyes.

"I did," Cedric said, trying his best to contain his anticipation and excitement under a veil of casual.

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Prove it."

Cedric took his hands and placed them on her hips gingerly, wrapping them around the small of her back as he pulled her in, leaning in slowly, eyes flicking every so often to Sam's lips and then forward, holding his lips just an instant away from her, eyes still open

She smiled and looked to one side and then back to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I still don't believe you," she said, not making eye contact, acting unimpressed.

Smiling slightly, and taking her swipe at him calmly, he leaned in, taking his time to make contact with her lips, pausing just a hair away from her lips, holding himself so close to her for a few seconds until she tilted her head and made contact with his lips.

It was… strange. His mind had been building the idea that maybe his kisses with Sam hadn't been everything he had thought they would be. Perhaps the kiss was just a fantasy he had built up as he had laid in bed an hour and a half after their first kiss, unable to sleep as he played the evening from the kiss forward through his head. Perhaps in the shock of the fact he had actually kissed Samantha Bennett he had thought of the kiss as too amazing, too fantastic, too much color, too much explosion, too… perfect.

He was right. Her kisses were better than that. They were such a fantastic epitome of existence, the taste of… perfection and beauty and… cherries, beautiful tasty cherries he would never, could never possibly get sick of.

After what was far too short of a time, he pulled away, sensation leaving as the lips on his tried their best to stay to his, feeling pleasantly sticky, wanting to stay stuck.

Eyes still closed, he traced his tongue along the rim of his upper teeth. With a snap of opening his eyes, he spoke. "Yep, I definitely missed you more."

With an air of smugness, he began to walk down the stairs leading to the grounds. At the third step, back still towards Sam as he left her at the top of the staircase, he closed his eyes and exhaled, shaking his head slightly as he reflected on he sheer fantasticality of ther kiss. Maybe she had missed him more. The way she had pulled in at the last second when he wouldn't. She had given in before he had.

But to miss as much as he did was… unbearable. His parents had helped it, and before that, Promise had helped by making him imagine, in a torturous sort of way… But now that he was here, with her, able to touch her and kiss her for the first time in more than twelve hours. How had he existed? How had he lived.

_Ah, but that's the point_, said a little voice in his head. _Do you really think you lived before?_

"Now wait just a second!" Sam said, heading down the stairs, chasing after him. "There's no way you missed me more. Not after that!"

_Nope_, he realized. _He hadn't lived before._

"I beg to differ," he contested, turning around to face her. "I mean, yeah. You did miss me. I felt that, but more than me…" his voice trailed off. "That's really hard to do."

"Not when I miss you this much," Sam said, looping her arms around his neck again.

Cedric, acting begrudging, but wanting it more than anything, placed his hands around her hips and pulled her in close. "I dunno. You have yet to convince me."

Sam looked to one side, shrugged with a tilt of her head, and looked up to Cedric, tilting her head and closing her eyes. Cedric leaned in for the kiss and repeated what he had before, pulled in so he was just about to kiss her, lips not yet touching but close… so close! He held himself there, waiting for her to kiss back, but she didn't. She stayed where she was, unbudging. In a moment of weakness and longing, he pulled in and kissed her, world exploding again, feeling her hands move upwards from his neck, one twiddling with the hair on the nape of his neck and the other moving to his cheek, where it caressed his cheek gingerly. It created a full sensation Cedric couldn't get enough of. He kissed her again and again, arms moving up and down her back, gently stroking her to help give her the same sensations she was giving him, but it felt like she was really outshining him. Perhaps…

After a minute or so (Cedric wasn't sure, he lost track of time) they pulled away.

"Wowwwwwww," Cedric exhaled.

"We missed each other equally," Sam compromised, smirking slightly.

"Deal," Cedric said, still in awe.

"So now that we've gotten that out of the way," Sam said. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good," Cedric said. "Today's been… one of the five best days ever."

"Really?" Sam asked, slightly excited. "What are the other four?"

Cedric thought for a minute. "I'll tell you sometime."

Sam frowned. "Alright, I guess. So what do you want to do?"

Cedric sighed. "No idea."

And faced with no other options, they began to walk around the lake, holding hands, talking about… whatever… kissing every so often, and eventually stopping under a beech tree, where Cedric sat down, Sam joining him, sitting in his lap. Cedric wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the head.

"So are you nervous?" Sam asked after a few minutes of watching the water on the lake move.

"A little," Cedric said. "But I'll be fine."

"You're going to win," Sam said surely. "I just know you will."

"Thanks," Cedric said. "But we'll see."

"Stop being modest," Sam said teasingly. "You know you're going to do great."

Cedric looked down at her hair, her beautiful, silky hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sam said, looking up at him.

They locked eyes for a minute and then their lips met, kissing.

And they sat under the tree for a long time, absorbing each other's company, still talking about whatever came to mind, kissing every so often, cuddling.

"Strange question," Sam said, thinking aloud. "And you can send this one right back at me, but…" she turned to look up at him. "What do you want to do? After Hogwarts I mean?"

"Besides waiting for you to get out?" Cedric said, making it sound like a joke but being incredibly serious and making her blush. "Well that's a weird question, isn't it? I know Promise's always been considering Auror duty, which she'd be great at because it's all about knowing spells and being sneaky and crafty because she's good at those things. But me? Hmmm," he paused to reflect. "I've never been asked that question. I guess if I had to say one thing, and one thing only? I'd probably like to be Minister of Magic."

"Really?" Sam asked, excitedly.

"Well, sure, I guess," Cedric said. "But I can't see myself as doing anything else."

"You'd be a great Minister of Magic," Sam said honestly.

"You think so?" Cedric asked.

"I know so," Sam nodded. "And you'd bring a good name back to politics."

"I don't think there was ever a good name in politics to begin with," Cedric laughed. "But thank you. I appreciate that. What about you?"

"Well," Sam thought aloud. "In the career advice with Professor Sprout, she recommended that I go work in the Ministry. She said something along the lines of working in the Improper Use of Magic Office or something, or if not that, in the Minister's office."

"So you can work with me?" Cedric teased.

"I know, it'd be awful, wouldn't it?" She asked, doing her best impersonation of Promise, which wasn't half bad if Cedric thought so himself.

And far too soon, they had to head back to the Great Hall for the evening banquet. The sun had begun to fall in the sky but by the time they entered the castle they still had another hour or so until the sun had completely sunk into the horizon and the Third Task would begin.

"Did you have a good afternoon?" Promise asked as Cedric took the seat next to her.

"Yes, thank you," Cedric said.

"You're welcome," Cedric's father said, smiling, eyes twinkling, sitting in the seat opposite Cedric. "I'm glad we were able to give you that."

"And did you enjoy spending time with my parents?"

"Oh yes!" Olivia said, silencing Promise with a look from the other side of the table.

"What I was going to say, Olivia," Promise said very pointedly. "Is that we had a very much most enjoyable time with your very much most exciting parents."

"Thank you, Promise," Cedric's mother said. "That's very kind of you."

"And thank you Promise for giving us alone time," Cedric said.

"You're welcome," Promise said, grinning at him. "I figured you'd like that. Besides, I have to get some away time from you sometime."

Cedric glared at her as the food appeared. Everyone began eating and chattering jovially, but Cedric didn't feel in the mood, even as people kept walking up to him and wishing him luck about the upcoming task.. The feeling of illness had crept over him as the Third Task approached, and he felt like he wouldn't be to keep any of the food he ate down any more. The saliva in his mouth had a strange almost metallic taste that almost dared him to eat something, threatening to send it back up if he did eat something. His breathing felt shallow, labored, but when he inhaled deeper breaths, the feeling just intensified.

There was no explanation for the sudden onset of illness, no logical explanation anyway. Yet, something told Cedric it was tied to the Third Task. He looked over to Harry Potter across the hall, who didn't seem to be eating either.

Something clattered on the plate next to him.

Promise had dropped her fork to her plate and had the same facial expression Cedric guessed he had.

"You okay?" Cedric asked.

"Can't eat," Promise said. "Don't feel well."

"I know what you mean," Cedric said, giving her a weak smile.

Sam placed her hand on his back and began to rub gingerly, trying to coax strength back into him. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Cedric said. "Just feel a little queasy, that's all."

"Well, feel better, 'kay?" Sam asked, genuinely, still rubbing Cedric's back.

"I'll try," Cedric smiled at her.

"You'll be fine, Cedric," his father said.

"You'll do great," his mother said. "We just know it."

"All of us," Olivia said, smiling warmly.

"And then some," Sam said.

"And me," Promise said, pushing the bridge of her nose together with her two index fingers. "Don't forget about me. Just because I'm all sick doesn't mean I don't care."

"Of course, Promise," Cedric said, looking up to the red and orange sky.

Cedric looked around at the rest of the school, who all were talking loudly and eating, each one anticipating the Third Task.

"You better make it exciting," Promise grumbled bitterly. "Me being sick because I'm sitting next to you…"

"Sorry," Cedric said, shrugging. "You think I want to be sick?"

Promise looked at him. "Maybe. Maybe you're just going for the attention."

"Right," Olivia said, smiling as she speared her last piece of steak and kidney pie and put it in her mouth.

"Don't underestimate him," Promise said, glaring at Olivia. "He's… Cedric."

The main courses vanished and desserts took their place, Crème Brule appearing right in front of Promise.

"Darn you, Sweenty!" Promise cursed, looking down at the table. "Can't you tell I'm not feeling well at all?"

"Mind if I have some, Promise?" Sam asked, indicating the custard dessert.

Promise scowled at her and pushed it to Sam, placing her chin on her folded arms on the table and pouting slightly.

Sam scooped some of the dessert onto her plate, still rubbing Promise's back.

"Both of you need to feel better," Cedric's dad said, taking a bite out of a chocolate éclair. "Promise, maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing."

"Nah," Promise said. "I'll be fine. Just gotta get the adrenaline pumping, you know? You walk in that maze, and I'm sure it'll just waft away. Besides," she shot a smug look at Cedric. "I wanna be there when he wins."

"Thanks, Promise," Cedric said, smiling weakly.

After a few minutes, Professor Sprout approached him.

"Come with me, Mr. Diggory," she said. "The Champions will be heading to the Quidditch pitch now."

Cedric nodded and looked back at those sitting around him: to his parents, who beamed at him, then to Olivia, who gave him a thumbs up, then to Sam, who stood up and kissed him for good luck.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

"And I'll always love you too," she responded back.

And finally he turned to Promise, who eyed him speculatively.

"Wish my name'd came outta that goblet," she muttered.

Not knowing what else to do, Cedric pulled her into a tight squeeze, not letting go until she had satisfactorily squeezed him back.

"I'll see you get out of there, holding the trophy," she said, looking into his eyes as they broke away. "You'll be fine, and when you come out of there, you'll be new Triwizard Champion and everything will be perfect."

Cedric eyed her but didn't say what was directly on his mind. "Love you too, Promise." He turned to the rest of the group. "See you on the other side."

And without another word to any of them, Cedric followed Professor Sprout out of the Great Hall.

* * *

Cedric pulled away from Sam's lips very slowly, not wanting their wind blowing, sunlight streaming, floating on a cushion of air of a kiss to end. Even his lips didn't want to part, sections of lip still holding fast even as he pulled away very slowly. 

"And if that wasn't…" Cedric said, voice trailing off.

"Yeah," Sam whispered, looking down and away as though, confused and dazed, in such shock and awe at what had happened she couldn't formulate a single thought.

Simultaneously, they looked at each other again and pulled in, kissing over and over and over, unable to get enough of the sensation, the sheer… marvel of each other's taste. His hands went from her hips to her back, rubbing it hard, unable to get the sensation out as she held his face in her hands, each one quickly turning into a puddle of goo in each other's hands.

With a shock, they pulled away, realizing in their momentary togetherness not to move too fast, to ruin such a beautiful, fantastic feeling. Later. They could release their mutual longing for each other later. They would have time. They would always have time.

"How long have you…?" Sam began.

"When did you walk through the doors to the Great Hall?" Cedric asked, slightly teasing.

"That long?" Sam asked, looking slightly impressed. "I had to wait for you to stand up after the Sorting Hat came off my head that I saw you."

"So the distance wasn't…"

"No," Sam said coolly, yet casually. "And you've always been…"

"You have no idea," Cedric shook his head, smiling as he had never smiled before.

"This should have happened a long time ago," Sam said, smiling and shaking her head.

"Why didn't I listen to Promise?" Cedric said, laughing at himself. "Or Olivia for that matter?"

Sam shot a glance at him. "They were on about you too?"

"Of course!" Cedric said. "Every free minute! I still have the letter that Promise sent from when we went shopping over the summer…"

"I remember that," Sam smiled fondly.

Cedric nodded. "And she sent me this huge post script about how I should date you."

"Olivia's been on my case all year," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "And every time it was a different excuse: O.W.L.'s, homework, O.W.L.'s, you might not like me back, O.W.L.'s, Cho Chang…"

"Hey, about that…" Cedric said.

Sam waved him off. "Forget about it. It's in the past."

"No, you have to listen to me," Cedric said. "Because this could've happened a long time ago if… well… you know."

"Not one of my prouder moments," Sam blushed.

Cedric waved her off this time. "But it's not important. You see, I was going to ask you. Remember that bet Promise made with me? If I lost (and I did) I had to ask you to the Yule Ball, but then Cho Chang walked up."

"Oh dear," Sam said sadly.

"And I was going to ask you right then and there… but Cho Chang walked up and then I couldn't 'cause I couldn't say no and…"

"It's in the past," Sam said. "It's not important."

"But it is!" Cedric half-exclaimed. "Because we could've had this so much sooner!"

"We're having this when we're supposed to have it," Sam said, wrapping her arms around his neck again. "Things happen in their time. Who knows? Maybe you would've started hating me in a matter of days."

Cedric shook his head. "You're far too interesting a person to walk away from."

Sam blushed and looked away.

"What is it?" Cedric asked.

"It's nothing," she said. "It's just…" she turned around to face him, smiling truthfully, the most genuine smile Cedric had ever seen. "I can't believe I'm so lucky."

"I'm the lucky one," Cedric said. "Believe me."

"Then we're both lucky, I guess," she said as they pulled in for another kiss.

* * *

With the sound of a whistle, Cedric sprinted with Harry Potter into the maze, feeling of illness gone in the sudden magical barrier of absence of sound. Following Harry's lead, he flicked a light onto his wand with the word "_Lumos_" and continued down the illuminated-by-wandlight path until they reached a fork in the maze. They looked at each other. 

"See you," Harry said, taking the left.

Cedric walked to the right, tuning towards where he guessed the center of the maze was at the next turn just as the whistle, the only audible sound through the thick hedges of maze, sounded, signaling Krum's entrance to the maze. He shook his head from Krum's entrance and focused on the possibility of him getting lost. If only he had a compass or a map or something…

Before too long, he came upon a field of doxies. Upon seeing him, they attacked him, but he just waved his wand, saying "_Immobulous_", which cast a freezing charm on all the doxies, sending the frozen creatures to the ground as the third and final whistle signaled Fleur's entrance into the maze. He ignored the whistle and pressed on, still maneuvering his way as best her could through the labyrinth. Turning left then right, trying to judge the best straight line towards the cup.

Then he rounded a corner and came face to face with one of the most vile and vicious looking creatures that he had ever seen.

It was like a large, white, scorpion, with shiny thick skin that covered its body like armor. This must've been what Olivia had complained at one point was a "Blast Ended Skrewt." Cedric gulped as the massive creature approached him.

"_Stupefy_!" he shouted, but the tiny red jet of light deflected harmlessly off its shell. It caught him off guard. He'd never expected this creature to be able to deflect a stunning spell. Where the heck had Hagrid-

He dived to one side, just in time for the nasty looking sucker to land in the dirt next to him.

"_Impedimenta_!" He shouted hopelessly. Like the stunning spell, this one did nothing except bounce off harmlessly. What was Hagrid doing with such dangerous-

BANG!

The Skrewt's end exploded and it propelled itself forward at an alarming rate. Cedric stumbled backwards and fell onto his back, coming into contact with the hard Quidditch pitch, trickle of blood entering his mouth. Opening his eyes in the heat of the moment, he looked up just in time to see the Skrewt's obnoxiously flexible tail flip under itself and levitate slightly, ready to attack Cedric. He rolled out of the way just in time as the stinger landed in the ground. It pulled out with little problem, but Cedric had managed to roll outside the legs and away from the stinger. The Skrewt moved back, still and again blocking off the rest of the maze to him.

He'd lose too much time if he went back. He had to figure out a way-

The Skrewt flung its tail forward again, sending the sucker into the ground.

"_Accio_!" Cedric cried in the heat of the moment.

He hadn't quite known exactly what effect using a summoning charm on an object that wouldn't come might do. It was just an idea he and Promise had thought of two years before in Charms. There was no guarantee it would work.

But sure enough, the Skrewt's tail did not move. Instead, Cedric's wand used it to pull forward, and, Cedric being much lighter than the Skrewt or its tail, propelled upward, missing the sucker by inches as it passed. Landing on the tail, he gained his footing for a split second, no longer than he had to, and leapt off, landing on the ground on the other side of the Skrewt, hand helping to catch himself before he fell. Not wanting to deal with the Skrewt any more, Cedric sprinted away, hitting one of the hedges as he sprinted away, making more noise than he wanted to, and came bursting out onto the path just ahead of him. There was a light coming from his left as Harry Potter turned around to face him. Harry looked at him curiously, not quite knowing what was going on.

"Hagrid's Blast Ended Skrewts!" Cedric gasped, throwing his thumb over his shoulder. "They're enormous- I only just got away!"

And he continued on the path he was on, having only come to a crossroads with Harry because his chosen path could continue through the maze.

He continued on, coming upon more and more obstacles and creatures that impeded his path. At one point, he came upon a bird he recognized as a Fwooper and he was about to put a silencing charm on it when it began to sing and call, making beautiful harmonious music in Cedric's ears. After a minute or so, he sat down, entranced by the beautiful call it had made and examining its brilliant plumage. How could he possibly have ever existed before hearing such a bird's call? What could have-

Someone led out a horrible, piercing scream that shattered the song of the Fwooper for a second.

"_Silencio_," Cedric said lazily, wanting to go back to listening to the Fwooper's song.

Completely by accident, Cedric's spell hit the Fwooper in the mouth just as the scream silenced itself.

Suddenly looking around and self-aware, Cedric watched as the Fwooper desperately struggled to make its voice sound again.

"_Stupefy_," Cedric said, waving his wand and knocking the Fwooper to the ground, unconscious. He should've remembered: Fwooper's may sound pretty, but they drive their prey insane if they can sing for too long.

He continued on for several minutes, backtracking several times and looking for another path to take him through the maze. He encountered four dead ends, and on the fifth he came face to face with a vicious looking elf with sharp teeth. It smiled broadly and used one of its sharp fingernails to pick at its dangerous mandibles. With a quick sprint towards him, it leapt, claws spread wide, teeth wide, ready to bite Cedric's face.

"_Impedimenta_!" Cedric shouted, freezing the elf in midair, making it look shocked and confused as to what happened to it. Cedric skirted around it until very slowly it continued in its trajectory and landed in the large hedge Cedric had been standing in front of, knocking it unconscious.

Cedric backtracked again, hopelessly lost in the maze.

After a few minutes, Cedric heard twigs snapping behind him. Cautiously, he shot a look over his shoulder, and held up his wand, illuminating the dark behind him. But there was nothing. There had to be something, though. There had to be. He had heard something. Maybe it was a creature that was following him, like he was sure that elf was.

He continued sprinting through the maze, taking the first right and then an immediate left, hoping to lose whatever it was that was trailing him. After a few minutes he stopped, trying to get his bearings.

There was nothing. No sounds, but no noticeable landmarks either. There was no way for him to know exactly where he-

_SNAP!_

Cedric whirled around only to see Viktor Krum standing behind him, illuminated in Cedric's wandlight. He was pointing his wand directly at Cedric's heart.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cedric asked, backing away, not knowing what Krum was getting at. "What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

Krum smiled a cruel, awful smile. "_Crucio!_"

In all his life, Cedric couldn't have ever imagined such pain. Before he could even realize it, he was on a plate of hot coals, surrealistically hot knives, pokers, and pitchforks digging into his skin, poking, prodding, cutting as he writhed in pain, feeling the burning sensations all over his body. He twitched uncontrollably, screaming because of the pain. His hands moved to his face, clawing at the cuts and lashes out at him. Stop! Let them stop! He screamed even louder.

But he couldn't hear himself. Nay, he could only hear the screams of people around him. Promise… Sam… Olivia… His parents… They were all screaming, reflecting his pain. He had to stop it. He had to stop them from-

"_Stupefy_!" someone shouted.

The pain went away, but Cedric couldn't stand up. The suffering and the screams vanished all at once, but he couldn't take his hands away. Someone had killed him. He was dead, that was the only explanation.

Someone thumped to the ground next to him.

Cedric let out his breath in pants, gasping for air. _What the hell had just happened?_

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, grabbing Cedric's arm.

Cedric's legs almost collapsed under him. They felt so weak, shaky. "Yeah," he panted, looking over at Krum and remembering the curse Krum had cast on him. "Yeah… I don't believe it… he crept up behind me… I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me…"

Slowly, and with Harry's help, he stood up, legs shaking and weakened from the Cruciatus curse. Shaking, he looked down at Krum. Never before had he felt such a strong, venomous feeling for one person.

"I can't believe this…" Harry said. "I thought he was all right."

"So did I," Cedric said, looking down at him, but realizing a feeling of pity had crept into his mind.

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" Harry asked.

The pitying feeling left Cedric. How could he do such a thing to Fleur? "Yeah. You don't think Krum got her too?"

"I don't know," Harry said slowly.

"Should we leave him here?" Cedric muttered, not quite wanting to allow Krum to wake up again before the end of the task.

"No," Harry said. "I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him… otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a Skrewt."

"He'd deserve it," Cedric said, but still feeling pity in his gut. He raised his wand and shot red sparks into the sky, where they floated over Krum's body. Hand still twitching from the torture, they stood in the darkness for a moment.

But something wasn't sitting right with Cedric. Krum suddenly using not one, but potentially two unforgiveable curses in a matter of minutes? They wouldn't make him Triwizard Champion if he did that… Would they? The rationale made no sense.

All Cedric knew is he wanted to get as far away from Krum as he could. "Well… I s'pose we'd better go on…"

"What?" Harry asked. "Oh… yeah… right."

And unspeaking, they headed down the path, Cedric heading to the right as Harry turned to the right.

Thank goodness Harry had been there. He would've been a goner if he hadn't.

After a few feet and Cedric getting this feeling he was heading in the wrong direction, he came upon the most peculiar thing he had yet seen in the maze.

There, fluttering in front of him, fast, nigh unseeable, was a small fluttering golden bird, something Cedric recognized from the Quidditch theory books as a golden snidget.

He peered at it curiously. The snidget was an endangered species, so it was strange to see such a rare bird flittering in front of him. Surely they hadn't captured one for purely the Third Task. Slowly, trying to seem inviting, Cedric reached forward, trying to grab the bird out of the sky. But it fluttered out of his grasp, just out of his clutch. He took a few steps forward, when the maze began to close around him. The sky blackened and the vines behind him stretched and sealed off the path behind him. Cedric looked behind him and placed a frustrated hand on the wall, feeling the prickles of hedge on his palm. He withdrew it and faced the golden snidget.

But it wasn't the bird anymore. It had transformed into the golden snitch itself. It whizzed in two circles and then zipped back down the maze's path, glinting in Cedric's wandlight.

Cedric quickly looked to his left and saw four broomsticks lying on the hedge. He grabbed one, threw it in front of him so it hovered in midair, hopped gingerly onto it so it dipped a tiny bit, and then shot off in pursuit of the snitch. Within a matter of seconds, he had caught up to it, but it pulled a hard right down another path and Cedric, surprised at the sudden change in direction, took an extra few fee to stop, broom tilting forward as he stopped. As fast as he could, he made a turn within the maze's path and shot back out, making a left to follow the snitch's path.

The hedges were still covering the maze, preventing the snitch and Cedric from leaving out of the top of the maze. Not that they needed to. Quidditch officials bewitched snitches to not leave the pitch's bounds. Cedric guessed it was just to keep people from using the broom to peer over the top to see where they were in the maze.

He bent low over his broom until he caught up with the snitch again, but it turned left. Ready for the sudden turn again this time, Cedric rolled on his broom as he turned to the left, transferring his momentum to his roll so he wouldn't have to make it up again.

The chase continued for several more minutes, Cedric rolling left and right, following the snitch by wandlight.

And it felt good.

Cedric hadn't flown in months. Why hadn't he? He needed to-

He rolled to the right, following the snitch around a hairpin turn.

He need to be back on his broom a long time ago. Long before this. Sometime during the winter, maybe Christmas. They should've had a snowball fight on brooms. That would've been intense.

About to grab the snitch, they reached a dead end, snitch stopping on a knut and turning around, shooting back out the way it came, retracing its steps.

Frustrated, Cedric came to a complete stop and then rocketed after it, chasing it just as closely, if not closer, wind whipping his face.

Unable to help himself, he began to weave within the confines of the walls of the maze, moving back and forth expertly, as though maneuvering around various poles or objects in his path.

The snitch hit another wall and turned around, flying past Cedric, under his broom.

Cedric flattened himself on his broomstick and flew to the ground, toes skimming the blades of grass as he zipped past. With an instant left until the wall, Cedric pulled up, following the wall up to the slightly curved overarching, interlaced hedge ceiling so he was flying upside down on the barrier. He pulled away and rolled over so he was now flying right side up, gaining ground on the snitch.

After another minute or so, they reached a wall and the snitch stopped. Cedric dropped his broom to the ground, able to grab the snitch if it flew too low.

But it didn't, instead flying just above Cedric's eyesight towards him, as though engaging him in a game of chicken. With a lunge and with no regard to the wall ahead of him, Cedric grabbed the snitch out of midair.

What happened next happened slowly, far too slowly. The broom evaporated from between Cedric's legs and he flew forward, snitch outstretched, towards the wall. A million images flashed through Cedric's mind, all of which involved him comically hitting the wall of hedges.

He closed his eyes, unable to see that when the snitch in his hand made contact with the hedge wall in front of him it evaporated both the wall and itself, much like the broom had evaporated when Cedric had grasped the snitch. Cedric's hand squeezed around nothingness as he flew forward, hedge ceiling disappearing and withdrawing into normal hedge wall, and flipped and rolled multiple times, Quidditch pitch grass slowing his crash landing.

He looked up at black night sky and glinting stars, forehead covered in sweat, panting madly, not quite sure what had happened. Overcome with adrenaline and excitement, he laughed, completely in disbelief that he had just flown through a maze, chasing a nonexistent snitch.

Dusting himself off as he stood up, Cedric looked back to the wall of the maze, which had sealed itself again. He turned around to face what was in front of him. Hopefully that hadn't been a complete waste… of…

He looked at the brightly glimmering Triwizard Cup, which was on a plinth a couple hundred feet away. Disbelieving, he began to run, sprinting as fast as he could towards the goal. It was so close. He pumped his legs faster. Just another hundred feet. He could-

"Cedric!" Someone shouted. "On your left!"

Cedric looked to his left, where a gigantic spider was moving with extraordinary speed to attack him. He hurled himself forward, performing a somersault on the ground and then leaping to his feet, but the force of his run combined with the sudden hasty leap tripped him up, wand flying forward and landing some feet away. As he slid to a stop on his stomach, the Acromantula bore down on him, ready to attack.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, coming to Cedric's rescue again.

But like the skrewts before it, the spider was completely unaffected by Harry's spell. In fact, the spider turned around and began to bear down on Harry, who was shooting spells as fast as he could at the creature.

Cedric dove forward for his wand, but by the time he had turned around, Harry was already in the spider's pincers.

"_Stupefy! Stupefy!_" Cedric shouted hopelessly as one of Harry's flailing legs came into contact with one of the spider's giant pincers, puncturing skin and digging into his leg.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Harry bellowed, making the spider drop him onto his fast collapsing leg. He rolled underneath the spider, and pointed it at the spider's underbelly.

Cedric pointed his wand at the spider, crying out "Stupefy!" just as Harry called it out too. It made the spider keel over, obscuring Harry from view, and crush one of the hedges as it landed on its back, legs curling inward in what Cedric suspected was pain. But there was no time for that.

"Harry!" Cedric shouted, sprinting forward and trying to see Harry. "You all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No," Harry called back, panting. Shakily, he stood up, leaning on a hedge for support.

His leg did not look good at all. It looked slimy and juicy from a secretion of what Cedric guessed was harmless spider venom, and Harry put no weight on it. He was completely unable to use it to it at all.

"Take it then," Harry panted. "Go on, take it. You're there."

Cedric thought for a second, wondering what Harry could have possibly been referring to. When Harry didn't give him a clue after a few seconds, Cedric turned around and half-melted.

There, in self-producing light, was the golden Triwizard Cup.

_Slowly, he took a few steps forward, then faster, faster, faster, faster! he sprinted forward and grasped the handle and instantly the world turned to white making him surrounded by Promise and Sam and Olivia and his parents and all the other Hufflepuffs and Harry, who was clapping politely, arm around Cho Chang, and everyone was cheering and Professor Dumbledore was presenting him with the trophy and he was kissing Sam and hugging Promise and he could only say he'd only ever been happier when he was alone with Promise at her parents' Christmas party and last night with Sam when they had kissed and-_

The vision faded and Cedric looked around to see Harry, who was leaning heavily on the hedge in obvious pain. He took a deep breath, a hard to take breath. "You take it. You should win. That's twice you saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work," Harry said, face contorting in pain. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg."

_The vision of his arms around Sam, holding the cup over his head as Promise screamed "he did it! I knew it would!" loudly over the cheering crowd shot through his-_

He shook his head and took a few steps towards Harry. "No."

"Stop being noble!" Harry said, irritated. "Just take it, then we can get out of here."

Cedric looked at Harry, who was doing his best to steady himself on the hedge. He looked a far cry from the person who Cedric had almost known all year, but he was still Harry, and Cedric owed him. "You told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that to," Harry snapped, wincing in pain as he pressed his robes to the spider wound on his leg, making his other hand clench involuntarily on the hedge. "You helped me with the egg – We're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place," Cedric said, thinking of Professor Moody.

"We're still square," Harry said, placing weight on his leg. It shook violently, unable to support his weight.

"You should've got more points on the second task," Cedric said stubbornly. "You stayed behind to get all the hostages! I should've done that."

"I was the only one thick enough to take that song seriously!" Harry snapped back. "Just take the cup!"

"No," Cedric said defiantly. It was easier to say now, now that he had denied it before. He stepped around the large spider and stood next to Harry, folding his arms. He looked into Harry's eyes, hoping he still couldn't see the longing there. "Go on."

Harry looked at the cup, and Cedric could see the longing on his face, the same longing he himself had had just seconds before.

"Both of us," Harry said.

Cedric double took at him. "What?"

'We'll take it at the same time," Harry explained. "It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

Cedric stared at him, unfolding his arms. "You- you sure?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "Yeah… we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

Cedric couldn't believe it. Did Harry Potter, the Harry Potter really suggest that? No way had Harry put his name in the Goblet. If he had… no way would Harry have passed up the cup, much less tied for it?. He grinned impressedly. "You're on. Come here."

He took Harry's arm and draped it over his shoulder and limped him forward to the cup and stood in front of it, free hands held out over either handle.

"On three, right?" Harry said. "One-" Cedric had never experienced such a thing. "Two-" He was about to win the Triwizard Cup with Harry Potter. "Three-" He had never been-

He grasped his handle and the world spun to color, pulling a jerk somewhere in his midriff. Portkey? The Triwizard Cup was a-

The ground slammed into him, and Cedric landed with a thump, falling to the ground while Harry landed roughly, leg collapsing under him as he hit the ground. Harry looked up.

"Where are we?"

Cedric shook his head and got up, pulling Harry to his feet. He looked around.

They were… somewhere. Cedric didn't know where, but it certainly wasn't Hogwarts or really anywhere he readily recognized. They were in a cemetery, with a church someway to their right. He looked back at the Triwizard Cup. "Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?"

"Nope," Harry said, looking around. "Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno," Cedric said. Something wasn't sitting right about the graveyard. It was unnerving, creepy. It was… wrong. "Wands out d'you reckon?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

Someone was watching them. Cedric could feel it. Someone was looking at them and he didn't like it. Whoever it was made Cedric shiver.

"Someone's coming," Harry said suddenly.

And sure enough, someone was. A short someone, with a baby-like bundle in their arms. Harry and Cedric exchanged quizzical looks and then back to the short someone, who was still approaching them, looking at both.

Without warning, Harry began to scream and shout, wand dropping, arms moving to his scar. What was happening? Harry collapsed to his knees, yelling in agony, eyes closed.

Cedric looked from Harry to the short person in the cloak who was holding the bundle in arm. A high, shrill, horrible voice cut through the chill night air, sending a shiver of cold down Cedric's spine.

"_Kill the spare!_"

Cedric swallowed and looked at the man in the cloak, who was waving a wand in his arm.

_Sam,_ Cedric thought. _Promise…_

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

There was a rush of green light and Cedric began to fall, vision, thought, and consciousness obscuring to nothingness…

To blackness.


	18. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Cedric's parents or Cedric himself. But the idea for this was always here and the words and ideas are definitely mine.

* * *

**Epilogue  
Grief and Rebirth**

"And what the hell does he think he's doing?" Promise asked, sitting in the Quidditch stadium, Sam on her left accompanied even farther left by Cedric's parents, Calvin Parker and Olivia on her immediate right.

Calvin Parker stopped rubbing his left thumb along her right hand, his hand still clasped in hers. "I thought you liked-"

"No, no, no, not that," Promise said very businesslike before looking at Calvin Parker and smiling sheepishly. "That is welcome." They kissed once and Promise smiled thinking about more kissing… but no time for that. She turned to face the Quidditch pitch again. "I mean what the hell does he think he's doing? Just grab the damn cup!"

Sam giggled. "Don't you already know what he's doing?"

Promise glared at her. "He's right there! He just needs to run up grab the cup and this whole thing will be over! End of discussion, finished!"

"I think it's rather… cool," Olivia said, smiling slightly.

Promise glared at her. "Do you know him?" She turned back to the pitch. "I mean… the guy gets his morning dose of cool by me saying hi to him at breakfast. No reason for him to- oh now what's he doing!"

Cedric and Harry Potter were there, in the center of the maze, just a matter of feet away from the cup and they were shaking hands and Cedric was helping Harry to the cup…

And there went her cut of the thousand galleon prize money. She knew she should've made a rule on a flat rate rather than a fixed hundred galleon prize. But now that the thousand was gone… She could've had some nice gold! Not that she needed it… but still…

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the high point of the evening, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Promise declared ceremoniously, watching as Cedric placed a hand to grasp one of the handles, looking staunch and firm, yet completely happy. "I give you, the joint grasping of the Hogwarts first ever dual win of the Triwizard Cup!"

And with that, Cedric, Harry Potter, and the Triwizard Cup vanished into thin air with a flash of blue light.

The crowd went silent, deathly silent. Promise looked to the entrance to the maze. They hadn't appeared there. They hadn't gone… anywhere… They'd just… vanished… Like apparition.

But they couldn't disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds. Everyone knew that.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, one of the first people to speak up as the chatter began to spring up all around the stadium a minute after the mysterious disappearance. "Where'd they go?"

"No idea," Olivia said, not knowing how to respond to the sudden unexpected twist to the Third Task. "They were just supposed to touch the Triwizard Cup and that was it. That was the end of the task. Maybe now they have to get back out."

"But they've defeated all the creatures," Calvin Parker said, frowning. "They did what the Judges told them to do. They should be done with the task and out of the maze."

"But they're not," Sam said, concerned, looking around for Cedric and the cup.

"They don't look like they're in the maze," Olivia said observantly.

"No, it was a port-"

But Promise stopped. A shiver had gone down her body and something felt wrong… unsettling. It was as though something had just… vanished, though she couldn't quite know what it was, and the sensation was spreading through her body like the first drink of a cold goblet of ice water.

"Promise?" Sam asked concernedly, looking at her, already knowing something was wrong, although she couldn't know what it was. Even Promise didn't know…

Promise didn't answer, she had a look of confusion on her face. She'd been overcome by an emotion… Terror? Emptiness? And someone, it sounded like Cedric, had called her name.

"Promise, beautiful?" Calvin Parker asked, releasing her hand and prodding her in the arm a few times. "Promise? What's going on?"

But Promise felt strangely cold and limp even though it was a warn night and her back was rigidly in place.

"Promise!"

She startled herself back to life, looking over to Cedric's father, who had called her name loudly to snap her out of her… whatever it was.

"Sorry," Promise said. "But… I dunno… is anyone else cold? I feel cold."

"You alright, Promise?" Calvin Parker asked. "You seem… odd and different."

"I'm fine…" Promise said, voice trailing off.

But she wasn't really fine. Not at all. Something had… snapped, broken, shattered. She didn't understand what it was. And she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't figure out why things were so strange. People on the field, judges and professors were on the pitch running around. What was sitting so wrong with her? Had something happened?

She was about to stand up, stretch her legs, hoping it would help, but Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice rang out around the stadium. "Ladies and gentlemen, please stay seated until the Triwizard Cup appears. Thank you."

People started talking, louder than before, wondering where the Champions could have gone.

As though in a dream, Promise watched the people running back and forth on the field. Professor Dumbledore moving at a brisk pace between other professors, some of whom had entered the maze, leaving trails of various colored dancing sparks to guide them back out along the paths they had taken. The Minister began conversing rapidly with Dumbledore, who seemed slightly too busy for the Minister's comments, but indulged him all the same.

Still the Champions hadn't appeared. How much time had passed? An hour? Two? Four? Promise couldn't tell, daze still hanging over her for some reason.

And then, after an eternity, in a flash of crackling blue light, Harry Potter appeared, face down on the grass at the maze's entrance. In his right hand, pointed upward, was his wand and a handle of the Triwizard cup, and in the other the wrist of someone, a person, face down, stunned.

Promise recognized him at once as Cedric. There he was. Her best friend in the whole… wide…

But something was wrong. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

And within a matter of seconds, the stadium had exploded into a series of sounds, voices, screams.

But why was it such a big deal? What could've possibly been so…

Promise's thoughts slowed dramatically, as though trying to breathe and gasp after a long run. _Stunned._ She convinced herself. _Cedric was stunned for the time being. Nothing a breath of the word, "Enervate" wouldn't fix._

Yet deep down she knew… Something was going on. She stood up as Cedric's parents did, trying to get a better look.

And Dumbledore was running to Harry and he hoisted him up and he shook Harry, trying to spark some life…

Promise shook her head, trying to awaken her senses. Dumbledore was trying to shock Harry back to life. No. Reality. Dumbledore was shocking him to reality, normalcy.

Harry Potter dropped the cup, letting it fall to the ground with a barely audible thud. And the Minister of Magic was striding forward and trying to figure out what was going on. His voice carried up the seven levels of seats to where Promise and Sam and Olivia and Cedric's mother and Cedric's father were, all in perfect position to see what was happening on the field.

And Harry Potter hadn't let go of Cedric's hand.

And the Prime Minister began to talk. "What's going on? What's happened?"

And Promise felt the crowd go deathly silent around her as the Prime Minister froze.

"My God- Diggory-" The Minister's voice came as barely more than a whisper. "Dumbledore- He's dead."

And the inevitable ripple went through the crowd, word of mouth spreading, words echoing over and over and over in Promise's mind, each with a different inflection.

"Cedric?"

"He's dead!"

"What happened to him?"

"Dead? Diggory's dead?"

"Cedric Diggory? Dead!"

"How is he dead?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"How did he die?"

"Cedric?" Promise breathed. "Dead?"

The ability to stand had left her, the ability to function at all had completely vanished from her muscles and veins and she collapsed, only to be barely caught by Calvin Parker, who had just managed to grab her.

And the emptiness overtook her, the feeling that had been in her stomach for what felt like an eternity finally revealed itself: a pit that she had fallen into, like a part of her soul had been ripped out and lit on fire in front of her very eyes.

"Promise?" Calvin Parker asked, sitting her down gingerly.

But Promise couldn't hear him. She was only vaguely aware that he was holding her in his arms, or that Olivia had sunk to the bench in shock, or that Sam had dropped to the bench, head in her hands, crying, or that Harry Potter was being escorted off the field by Mad-Eye Moody or that Cedric's father had begun to stumble his way down the stands, followed closely by his wife.

"Promise!" Promise looked at Calvin Parker hopelessly, brown eyes wide in shock and horror.

And girls were screaming and sobbing and Cedric's mother and father had reached the pitch, only to be stopped by Professors McGonagall and Sprout.

"That's my son!" he shouted, wrestling to get past as his wife collapsed onto the turf, tears streaming down her face. "Stay away from me! THAT'S MY SON!!!"

And he was past them in a matter of seconds, grabbing his son's face in his hand, his son's face which had a look of mild shock and surprise. He grabbed Cedric's head and pulled it into his chest, howling to the sky, hoping it would somehow restore his son back to life. And Promise looked up too, unable to think, unable to breathe.

"Promise!" Calvin Parker said, shaking her, and putting his hands on her cheeks to make her look at him. "What's wrong?"

And Promise's lip quivered as the thought that had run through her mind finally voiced itself as words to Calvin Parker, who was staring at her, concern etched n his face.

"It's all my fault, Calvin Parker," she whimpered, the first tear starting to fall onto her face as he pulled her into his shoulder, robes instantly growing damp from her tears. "It's all my fault."

* * *

Promise sat outside Professor Sprout's office, waiting, not moving, not thinking, Calvin Parker next to her, arm around her. She didn't want him there. She didn't want anybody around her, but she had no energy, no resolve to push him away. 

"It's not your fault," he whispered.

She had no idea how many times he had said it, she hadn't been listening. All she knew is now she finally had heard it, she didn't want to understand it. It could have been the first time or the hundredth, it didn't matter. She had heard it once and that was all ready too many times.

Finally, because she couldn't think to do anything else, she stood up, shaking off Calvin Parker, and began to pace, back and forth, wringing her hands. The tears were still there, the ones that hadn't dripped off anyway, having dried and chapped the skin on her face so her cheeks felt raw and battered. She wouldn't wipe them away, she couldn't, not when it was one of the last things she had to cling onto. Olivia, who had been sitting next to Calvin Parker, Sam leaning on her shoulder, mouth contorted in silent pain, trying to hold back the tears, looked up. They were both crying and hadn't stopped, not for the two hours since… Since…

"Promise," Calvin Parker had stood up, facing each way as she passed him. "You have to stop."

"Stop?" She cried. "Stop what? What do I have to stop?"

"This," Calvin Parker said. "Blaming yourself. It's not your fault."

Promise glared at him, frowning, once again at the verge of tears. "You don't understand." She resumed her pacing, Calvin Parker still appealing to her.

"Then let me understand," he pleaded. "Please, Promise. I want to help."

"You can't," Promise said, looking at the ground as she paced. "No one can."

The door opened and Mr. Diggory stepped out of Professor Sprout's office, looking grim, Mrs. Diggory leaning heavily on him, tears streaming down her face.

"If there's anything you would like me to do," Professor Sprout began to offer. "Cedric was a great wizard. He will be revered and missed."

"I want to see him," Promise said, turning to face them abruptly.

Calvin Parker grabbed her arm. "Promise, I don't think that's such a-"

_Wham!_

Within a second, Calvin Parker was on his hands and knees, one hand holding his jaw, Promise massaging her knuckles.

"I need to see him," she demanded, pleading with Professor Sprout and her best friend's parents. "Please."

"Promise," Calvin began. "I-"

"Leave, Calvin," Promise said, anger in her voice.

Without another word, Calvin Parker turned his back on Promise and set off down the corridor and out of sight.

Mr. Diggory looked to his wife, who nodded consentingly. "Of course, Promise."

They all stood up, and Professor Sprout led the way down a few floors, to an antechamber of the Entrance Hall. Olivia and Sam were following, more out of a need to not be alone, and Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were watching them, walking in each others arms, needing someone to hold onto. They had already seen his… him.

Professor Sprout tapped the lock with her wand and it clicked, swinging open soundlessly.

"Take as long as you need," someone said, shutting the door behind Promise as she entered.

Promise took a few steps into the small foyer. It was a very unspectacular room, with several torches and a large stone table in the center of the circular room, upon which lay a figure, draped in the yellow and black of Hufflepuff. Promise stared at the shroud for a long time before reaching forward and pulling the large sheet forward.

She revealed him slowly, taking in his appearance, from jet black somewhat messy hair, to his perfect nose, to his eyes, which had closed serenely, to his mouth, which was straight and expressionless. Even here, on this table, he was still remarkably handsome looking not so much happy as peaceful, at ease.

With a flick of her wand, she conjured a stool and sat facing the table, but far away so she was removed from him, not right next to him. She sat in silence with him for several minutes, not feeling anything, not quite sure exactly what to say, somehow hoping that he'd start the conversation, like he had on the Hogwarts Express that first time, or whenever there was a slightly awkward pause between them. But he wouldn't he would never…

"Cedric?" she asked, as though half expecting a response. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have…" she inhaled deeply, nose clogging from the tears she still hadn't wiped away. "I…" she looked away from him for a moment and then back at his boyishly handsome face, the face she had looked on for six years, always taking it for granted. "Why did we have to make that stupid deal?" She looked away. "It's all my fault. Why did I have to lie to you? You must've known." She looked back at him. "I didn't mean for you to leave! That wasn't what I wanted. I just… that first time I needed you to stay, and then you were there and I don't know what happened to me because life became beautiful and wonderful and I never wanted you to leave because I love you so much. But today I got so in the moment I said you'd win and life would be… perfect."

She paused, thinking about how far perfection really seemed, how inherently imperfect the world and her life… their lives really were.

"But it's not perfect, is it? Life is awful and… you left? Cedric? How could you leave me?" Silence. "Didn't you love me?" No response. "Didn't you care?" Silence again. "I was only joking about leaving and I never…" She looked away and thought for a minute. "Or maybe you're right. I'm not much of a friend. I can't even tell my best friend, the one person in the entire world who's actually been there at my side, always there to show me the way or there to comfort me and say 'I'm here, Promise,' that life's gonna be okay.

"And how do I repay you? I lie and say life will be perfect and you'll come out of the maze holding the cup in your hands." The vision flashed through her head, of celebrating and tackling him and rubbing her hands through his hair, Sam next to him and Cedric was kissing Sam passionately and Promise was watching, smiling, beaming, Calvin Parker at her side and Cedric was lifting the cup over his head to the tumultuous screams of everyone in the- "And you don't. You come out and you've left me behind." The idea had left her lips before she could stop herself, and the idea flooded through her veins, turning her skin cold with each pulsating beat of her heart, sending waves through her. "How could you leave me behind? Why would you want…" she fumbled for the words, unsure, suddenly not able to comprehend anything about her best friend. "Wasn't I good enough as a friend? Wasn't I worth your time? Didn't you love me Cedric? Didn't you?" Tears had started to well in her eyes, not falling, but present, looming. "But you've left me, Cedric." The first tear fell, sliding sluggishly along her cheek. "You've left me alone! Why?" The second fell. "Is it because of Calvin Parker" A Third. "Or how I treat first years?" A fourth and then a fifth. "Or Were you just tolerating me all this time? Ready to jump ship the second I'd told you something untrue?"

She stood up and ran to her best friend's body and grabbed his lifeless shoulders, cold and dead, tears streaming from her face and falling onto his face and neck and hair. _Pit pat. Pit pit pit pat pat._ But she didn't care. She needed to tell him, to make him understand. _Pit pat._ Tears didn't stop now, they kept falling and she was sobbing, letting the wall that she had held up for so long fall away and crumble, just like Cedric had fallen away and crumbled out of her life. "Why can't you be here with me! Why can't you just come in and fill this hole!" _Pit pat, pit pat._ "I don't know what's happening to me! But I feel empty! And now you're gone and there's nothing left!" she shuddered at the thought of slipping away, of losing who she was and who she had been for so long. "I feel like nothing's good enough and now you're gone and I don't have you to talk to!" _Pit pit pit._ "Who's going to laugh at my stupid jokes or tell me not to use magic or tell me what he thinks about Calvin Parker or pass notes with me in class or tell me not to hurt First Years or smile at me when I feel down and bring back all the memories of better times?" She smiled hopefully, several tears, the ones that had slid down her cheeks, sliding onto her lips and then to her tongue, tasting salty and bitter. "Don't you miss me?" she asked hopefully. 'It's been hours and I already feel cold and dead. Why, Ced? Why'd you have to leave me? Can't you come back?" she paused, waiting for a response that would never come. "Please. Come back." Still no response in the deafening silence save for the slowing tears that were still falling onto her best friend's face, his beautiful face. 'I'll do anything. But don't leave me like this. Don't leave me alone." No answer. "Cedric? I love you."

And it was a stupid thing she did next. Promise lay down across Cedric's body, waiting for something to happen, hoping he'd spring to life and hug her just like he always did or maybe he'd fawn over Sam and she could watch him and live vicariously through him or just… talk. He'd come back and they could talk.

But he didn't move. He just lie on the table, stone cold, face pointing towards the ceiling, eyes still closed, mouth still expressionless, nose still perfect, hair still ruffled and beautiful. She ran a hand through his hair, never really having ever appreciated how soft it felt.

And it was in that moment she realized that he wasn't coming back. He wouldn't be there to ever sit and talk or listen or have a Parchment War or eat toast or try to take Crème Brule or nick food from the kitchen or fly around or laugh or dance or sing or anything. He couldn't ever do those things. He could never hug her again, never run, never cry never hurt, and here she was hurting and hating him for not hurting and not feeling what she felt, for not caring when she needed him to care more than she needed anyone else in the world to care.

"Why couldn't it have been me?" Promise whispered. "Why couldn't I have gone first?"

And without another word, she walked out of the anteroom and up the stairs, not paying attention to anyone around her, not even to Sam who tried to reach out to her and grab her hand and just… talk. What was happening to her? Why was this so awful and unbearable? Just hours ago she had been unable to eat food with him and the day before she was telling him to go snog Sam. She didn't want to deal anymore.

But Cedric wasn't here anymore. He couldn't split that éclair with her or try another cup of her tea. He'd never almost spill it on his jeans or pass her another note by Menty. There were so many things she'd never get to do with him again.

With no other options, she tapped her wand on an empty classroom door knob and shut the door behind her. Wand in hand, she looked at the various small bookshelves and tore at them, throwing books to the ground, stomping, tearing, ripping pages out. It felt good, shearing books in half. She picked up a handful and threw them across the room, screaming, howling out in perhaps a last attempt to bring her friend back. Tears screaming, she let it sound out, sounding primal, pitiful. She'd wake up the whole castle, but she didn't care, she didn't care about anything. She fell into a small mass, tears flowing freely in the room they had spent time practicing for the various tasks. In the place where he had first kissed Sam, where they had worked so hard to give Cedric spells that would protect him in the maze and it was all for nothing. There was no purpose. There was no purpose for anything.

There was no purpose, no rhyme nor reason for his death. It was senseless, just like her existence. There wasn't anything left. She needed out, she needed him so desperately. It just felt so empty and gone and dark within her, without him.

Slowly, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at her chest.

She inhaled a few times, choking on the tears which were falling from her face.

"_Ava_-"

Her lip trembled and another tear slid down her nose, dropping with a soft _pat_ onto her wand.

"_Avada_-"

More resolve. She needed to believe it. There wasn't anything for her anymore. There wasn't a reason for her to not believe it. She was ready. She needed to see him again, more than anything she needed to see him.

"_Avada Kedav-_"

Someone knelt in front of her and put his hand on her wand, pushing it downwards, away from her chest so it now pointed to the tile floor below. She looked up.

Calvin Parker hadn't removed the wand from her hand. He was looking right at her, tears in his eyes, palm making light contact with her wrist, keeping it from pointing at her chest. "Don't do it, Promise," he pleaded softly.

"Why?" Promise asked. "Give me one good reason why. He was all I had. I wouldn't exist without him, I don't exist without him."

"He wouldn't want this," Calvin Parker… Calvin said softly, soothingly, bordering on a plea.

"You don't know that," Promise snapped, trying to force energy into her wrist to bring her wand back to face her chest, stopped by his heavy hand. "You don't know what he would've wanted."

"Cedric wouldn't have wanted you to do die," he said. "He loved you too much."

"If he loved me so much why isn't he here?" Promise shouted. "Why did he have to leave when I lied to him?"

"You lied to him?" Calvin asked, voice soft, trying to understand.

"I told him life would be perfect and it's not and now he's gone," Promise sobbed.

"But why would he leave?" he asked, speaking to her like an adult trying to understand a child's explanation of why things were the way they were.

"We had a deal!" Promise shouted. "If one of us lied to the other, the other had to leave! And I lied so he left me. He left me alone." She looked away, lip trembling.

"But you're not alone," he whispered.

Promise looked up at him.

Calvin smiled at her. "You have Sam and Olivia, they could use someone. And you have his parents who consider you their daughter. You can take care of them."

"But who will take care of me?"

He looked into her eyes, speaking with sincerity. "I'll always be here for you."

She looked into his eyes, her own sparkling with tears. "Would he?" Promise asked.

"I think he loved you more than anyone," Calvin said, smiling weakly. "So yes, he would. And he wouldn't want you to die."

"But he did," Promise whispered. "Why can't I?"

"I doubt Cedric wanted to die," Calvin said. "Things were perfect. Few people want to die, and I don't think you're one of those people, and I know he wasn't."

Promise looked down at her wand and then at Calvin. "And he can't come back?"

"No."

"Even if I want him to?"

"No," Calvin shook his head remorsefully.

And Promise burst into tears, unsure exactly how to act, but dropping her wand, and allowing Calvin Parker to move forward and hold her again, squeezing tightly, feeling warm.

"He's gone," she whispered. "I can't believe he's gone."

* * *

The air reformed around her as she apparated into the circular driveway of her parents' house, fountain splashing behind her. She looked around at the overcast sky, sun trying desperately to break through the clouds. 

With a wave of her wand, she levitated her trunk so it followed in front of her up the steps and through the front doors of her house. She left them open, she would not be long.

It was silent, but that didn't surprise her. She never walked in on her parents making noise although they were definitely there, in the house. For people who worked multiple top jobs at the Ministry, they were home far more often than expected.

Promise led her trunk up the staircase to her left to the second floor, where she turned right at the top and stopped in front of the third door on her left. With a wave of her wand, the door handle clicked and swung open, revealing her room just as she had left it, sheets with the same unmade folds as when she had left in late August, books untouched but with no dust to speak of. They hadn't been in to clean, of course, the thought of that was ludicrous, Promise had just cast a good anti-dust spell on her belongings.

Trunk following behind her, she entered her room and dropped it on her bed so it bounced once before clicking open. Her clothes and belongings left in a line as they levitate out one by one and she sorted them into a pile of "take" and "not take." She needed to get going. It would be best to go sooner rather than later.

Most of her school books went into the "don't take" pile, while most of her non black robes went to the "take" pile. She opened her drawers with her wand and withdrew all of her blue robes, two of her lilac robes, and a few of the acid green, stowing them into her now empty trunk. With a wave of her wand, the trunk's insides expanded and it carrying capacity grew as she piled in books and objects around her room: the series of spell books Cedric had given her for Christmas and birthdays, the shiny medallion Olivia had found in Zonko's that could hold the contents of a very small safe, the sharp ornate quill Sam had given her for Christmas that checked not only spelling, but emotions, feeling the words as the author wrote them, laughing when it was supposed to laugh, crying when it was supposed to cry.

And still there came more books, books from her private library, her bookshelf, the ones she had wanted to read but had never gotten around to. And now she would, she'd have time for anything.

The last thing to come to her was a set of ten scrolls, loosely tied together with a yellow ribbon. Already half-knowing what they were, she unrolled the first one.

In neat, Promise handwriting across the top were written the words, "The Pretty Boy's Guide to a Happy Married Life; An outline."

She opened the next one: "A Pretty Boy's Guide to Life After Hogwarts; An outline."

And the next: "A Pretty Boy's Guide to Waiting for the Girl of Your Dreams; An outline."

She felt the tears come again, but they didn't fall. Smiling reminiscently, and thinking about how much he had loved the books she had written for him, she rolled them back up, tied them together with the yellow ribbon, and placed them by hand into her trunk.

Dani the owl soared in through her open door, landing on top of her slammed shut trunk, small note attached to her leg. For a second, she had thought, hoped it was from Cedric. But it couldn't be, she knew it couldn't be.

"You miss him?" she asked Dani.

The owl nodded slightly, but tilted her head, giving the impression she didn't understand.

"Well I expect better from you than Cedric did. But I give out more treats."

Dani cooed as Promise took her free hand and scratched Dani's throat, letter unfolded in her hand. She read it through once, nodded, folded it, and placed it back in her pocket.

"Ready?" she asked, hoisting her trunk to her side, looking at it, and then flicking her wand, making it levitate again. Dani hooted in concurrence.

She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, leaving the trunk at the front doors, ready to leave at a second's notice, Dani perched on top. Her parents were standing at the kitchen counter, opposite each other and were feeding each other bites of salad, eyes lost in each others.

"I'm leaving," Promise said simply. She turned to leave.

"Leaving?" Promise's mother asked dreamily.

She turned to face them. "Yeah, well you don't want me around, so I figured I wouldn't be a nuisance to you." She turned to leave again.

"Wait," Promise's father said, making Promise turn around. "What do you mean?"

Promise shrugged. "Well you're always wrapped up in yourselves, so I figured…"

"We are not!" Promise's mother protested, fork she was using to sensually feed her father still suspended in midair, ready for him to eat.

"Oh you're wrapped in yourselves right now!" Promise shouted. She didn't have time with this. She didn't even want to do this. "You're so wrapped up in each other that you don't notice anything! You don't notice that I've grown up or that I have one friend. How old am I? Who's my best friend?"

Her parents stared at her, clueless.

"That's right! You don't care. Don't care enough to know that this," she flicked her wand and the spoon flew out of her mother's hand and clattered into the wall, salad and dressing splattering the light green walls. "Won't get me kicked out of school! I'm seventeen and my best friend's name is Cedric Diggory."

Her parents' expressions changed to those of calm sadness and understanding.

"Oh, he died didn't he?" Promise's mother asked. "The Triwizard Champion who died? That was him, wasn't it?"

"Terrible tragedy," Promise's father shook his head.

"No," Promise said, venom in her speech. "He was murdered by Lord Voldemort. And I'm going to leave now to fight the good fight."

"Now wait just a minute-" her father protested.

"No," Promise said.

"Don't you talk to your father that way," Promise's mother snapped.

"He was never my father, just like you were never my mother," Promise snapped back. "It was always 'you' time. You cuddling on the couch or going to parties, leaving me here, alone, to my own devices for as long as I can remember." She shook her head sorrowfully. "You've had no impact on who I am except to let me know that I'll never have children because I'll end up like you, who have yourselves and care no one but each other, which is fine, but not if you're a parent." They remained silent, stone faced in shock. "Being a parent is about being there and showing your child who to be, and you've done none of that for me. Never, once have you. "So I'm leaving to make my way in the world without you because I don't need you, and I've never needed you. You were awful parents and you never appreciated me and who I am. So I leave and hope you might have learned something by it."

And without another word, Promise strode out of the house trunk following behind her, Dani perched on top. She stood at the point where she had apparated just moments before and looked back on the house, grabbing the trunk and holding it to her side, Dani flapping and landing on her shoulder as the sun finally broke through the clouds, bathing her in light and warmth.

Thinking about Calvin Parker and his new apartment, which were both waiting for her in Diagon Alley, where she could start her new life after one more year at Hogwarts she whispered, "Goodbye."

And she spun around, transporting into the vacuum of blackness and no air.

* * *

"Wait here," Promise said as she turned around and walked up the steep hill, passing tombstones on either side of her, heading for the one near the top of the hill. Even in the gray tinged sky of early morning she could see it identical to the others, the same, yet different, special. 

She stopped when she reached it, looking down at the name on it:

_Cedric Diggory  
__Born: September 19, 1977  
__Died: June 23, 1995  
__The Greatest Hufflepuff since Helga herself_

"Hi," she said softly, smiling faintly, looking at the dates. "That was along time ago, and yet, it feels like yesterday." She smiled, laughing slightly. "I'm better. Same as last year and the year before that and the year before that. Things haven't changed much since… you know… Harry Potter defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… how long ago was that? Ten years? Man I feel old. But it's alright. Things are good. I'm good, Calvin's good. You'd be good, I'm sure."

She paused and looked over her shoulder, smiling. "Sam says hi, so does Olivia. She's popular you know… Olivia I mean. Took Cal's advice and joined Puddlemere United. Fantastic chasing." She looked to one side and scowled. "Traitor." She smiled at the tombstone. "But you should see her, Ced. It's like she's some kind of genius out there. Reminds me of you. Sam though… boy, she's been so… I don't see her all that often. We still talk, but not as much as you and she would… She's not married you know. She's single so it could maybe work out between you two if you stepped on it…" Her face fell. "Bad joke, I know. But it woulda worked Cedric. I think she knew it cause she never dated anyone else, and I don't think she ever will. People call her 'the old maid' although she's the youngest undersecretary at the Ministry. She's fightin' for you, Ced. I think she might have her eye on the top job. Said that's what you wanted. And there were so many things I didn't know. I never asked you that. So many things I never asked you… So many things we never got to experience in life after Hogwarts. And… you woulda been there, next to Calvin and me. Best man. I woulda made it work. Woulda parchment warred Cal for it too, but he's getting pretty good. I woulda beat him in the end though." She smiled. "He wanted to come, but it's just a formality. He knows this is 'us' time so he doesn't argue with me about it." She smiled reminiscently. "It's one of the few things we don't argue about. All in good fun of course. Take away the arguments and you get my parents and you know what that's like. Regardless, he says hi too."

She sighed. "I miss you," she smiled, looking at the headstone. "Every day I think about it, wondering what life would be like, you on the top floor of the Ministry, me on the floor below. Not any more though. That only woulda worked for three years. But that would've been fun. You and Sam, me and Cal. Would've been insane. It would've been… She chuckled once. "Maybe we would've gotten sick of each other. But I doubt it."

She sighed. "It hurts, you not being here. It's better now. Been better for four years. He makes it bearable." She looked over her shoulder again and smiled.

She looked back at the name on the stone. "My parents are back. Did I tell you that?" she chuckled. "They've been back for a while, but they'd never… They're more involved. Figure they want to put something right, but they're trying. Really, they are. Makes me hopeful, lets me know people can change. But I already knew that. You made me who I was. Remember me before? All meek and quiet and shy?" she sighed evocatively. "I don't miss that. I don't miss that at all."

She felt a tear well in her eye. "Thank you, for making me who I am and showing me who I wanted to be deep down. I owe you for that. I owe you for so much and you never asked for anything." She smiled broadly, a thousand images of her best friend flashing through her mind. "I love you." Promise kissed her fingertips and placed them on the tombstone.

And with a final look at Cedric's grave, she began the walk down the hill, looking at a little boy, who was running under a large tree which was full of leaves and life, trying to catch a small yellow hummingbird with his hands, running and jumping to catch the taunting bird. His hair was curly and brown and his eyes were blue, like his father's.

"Mommy?" the boy asked, stopping the chase for the hummingbird as Promise approached, looking up at his mother, smiling cheerfully. "Are we going home now?"

Promise nodded, smiling at her young, four year old son. "Yes, Cedric. We're going home."

And she held out her hand for him to take, which he did. It was warm and full of life.

"And is this where Uncle Cedric is?" the boy asked looking up at his mother in wonder.

Promise smiled and nodded, beginning the walk down the hill of the cemetery. "Yes."

"What happened to him?" Cedric asked looking slightly sad and forlorn.

"I'll tell you one day," Promise said, smiling.

"I wish I had known him," Cedric said, frowning.

Promise smiled again. "In a way," Promise said, looking down at her everything, her pride and joy, her reason for living. "You already do."

The boy looked up at her, smiling. "I love you, mommy."

"I love you too, sweetie," she said, meaning every word.

And they headed down the hill, reaching the black pavement of street leading away from the cemetery and walked down it and out of sight, the sunrise shedding light and casting a beautiful red and orange glow on mother and son.

* * *

**Author's note:** Yes, there you have it. The very end of this epic journey into the world and life of Cedric Diggory. Hopefully you really truly appreciate one of the most important, yet perhaps the most underrated character in the Harry Potter universe. I hope you enjoyed my take on the events surrounding his tragic last year, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading. You don't know how much it means.

We'll always have Promise!  
Dini


End file.
